Charon Cross: May Shadows Guide You
by Thunder-Clap Collaborations
Summary: No longer accepting OCs! Submissions may open later! Read the story of a dark guild, focused on assassinations and thievery, make their name more well known while trying to stay shrouded by secrecy. Many dark times await this guild, but that may just be how they like it!
1. Chapter 1

**January 19****th****, X791**

Welcome to the town of Anemone… Or, at least what remains of the once thriving religious town.

What were once large buildings with highly arched roofs-built to withstand the heavy snow of the northern Fiore town-now lay in a pile of rubble that looked as though it had been hit by something from above. The pushes that once lined the dirt paths of the town were now withered, most of them smashed into the sparkling white snow. As for signs of life, photos and clothing could be dug out from the rubble and in the field to the left of the town, an old ball lay, deflated from time.

The only thing that was still noticeable was the gray stone entrance to the Temple of Ashira, the magical goddess of hope. While the large statue of the beautiful goddess was missing its head and its arm, the entrance to the temple, which started with steps that headed into the ground was cleared.

Beyond the steps were multiple rooms. The first was one that used to be the offering room, where the city would come to pray and offer various goods to their goddess. Behind that, there was a treasure room, though the treasures had long since been gutted after the town was left in rubble. To the west and east, there were many small rooms, which branched out; the catacombs. These rooms were decorated with a vase or some other decorative holder for the ashes of the deceased and then many old items that either belonged to the deceased or were left to them, though most of those had been taken as well, along with the items in the treasure room.

The temple had since been modified by the current inhabitants. The solid stone statue of the praying goddess, a woman who long, flowing hair that fell to her back, a serene face with long lashes, and a flowing, sleeveless dress still stood in the middle of the room. Many flower necklaces still hung from her neck, the flowers withered with dry petals scattering the floor around the goddess and the large stone basket in front of the goddess was filled with small pieces of paper. Candles that were hung in golden metal wall sconces lit the room and behind the goddess statue, over her head was a large, wooden sign that said "Leave your request. May you find guidance to the underworld." in golden letters that were messy, but readable.

The other three archways had been blocked off by wooden doors that were left locked at all times. The treasure room was now a small pub for the inhabitants. There were some old wooden tables and wooden chairs scattering the room, along with a small bar wooden bar with a few stools in the center of the wall across from the door. Behind the bar was a small kitchenette, with a stove, oven and icebox. Under the bar were some bottles of alcohol and mugs. On the east wall, there was a large wooden board with little notes haphazardly tacked to it.

The east hallway from the main room led to the female sleeping quarters, where the various burial rooms had been made into bedrooms of sorts, usually with two or three females sharing a room. The east side was the same, apart from it being for males.

At the back of the temple, past the treasure room and through another corridor, was what used to be a cleansing room for those who felt that they had forsaken the goddess. It was connected to a spring, and with the help of a heating lacrima and the building of a giant wooden wall, it was a now a gender-segregated bathhouse for the guild.

The new inhabitants were a dark guild, hidden from the eyes of the Magic Council, known as Charon Cross. They were a guild that specialized in assassinations, thievery and other dark works that were not for the faint of heart. The basket in the main room was where clients would come and leave their missions, rarely ever encountering one of the powerful mages that called the guild home.

Charon Cross was a fairly populated guild, for a dark guild and fairly known, for the type of guild that they were. However, anytime the law officials seemed to the get word of their existence, the ear that caught the word was no more, like hushed whispers dissipating in the wind.

The dark guild was ran by a man by the name of Onyx Stonewall. He was a thin man, with pale, white-blond hair and charcoal eyes. He had pale skin that looked almost sickly, lacked muscles for the most part, and had sharp, slender facial features that made him look younger than he actually was. If not for the crow's feet in the corners of his eyes and the stress lines on either side of his nose, the man would pass for twenty, easily, but with the lines of stress, it was easy to guess that he was at least thirty, which he was. He was dressed in a dark green turtle neck sweater, black leather gloves, black pants that fell to the middle of his calves and were rather loose-fitting and made of soft cloth, and simple black loafers. The guild mark, which consisted of a cross whose end resembled a dagger, could be seen on the guild master's cheek, below his left eye, sporting a dark green color with black outlines. The same mark could also be seen on the back of his black cloak, which he wore during missions.

Charon Cross was founded six years prior, when Onyx had stumbled upon the remains of the town of Anemone and upon finding the temple, decided to call it home and work out of it, as he was a fairly renowned mercenary. Soon, a couple of mages found himself and asked to work with him for various reasons and that soon evolved into the foundation of the guild, which had made quite the name for itself over six years, though the start had been quiet.

The jobs that Charon Cross had taken had always been simple jobs; kill the ex-lover of a wealthy woman, kill the person who killed a loved one, steal from the rich and give to the poor, steal from shops, things of that nature.

However, in the recent months, the jobs have become more difficult, more dangerous, and higher paying. How will the guild react to its ever-rising name? Will the whispers of a dark guild who is capable of taking out anyone in Fiore before they even know what hit them be the downfall of this guild?

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>_

_Raiyane:_

_Okay. So, as usual with my SYOC works, here's a really short prologue to give you an idea of what this fic is going to be about. In case you didn't get it, it's a dark guild focused on stealthier missions, though it doesn't mean that every mage has to work with stealth, as long as the guild name isn't spread to unneeded ears and no one knows who did the killing, it shouldn't matter. If you can't tell, your character will NOT be the good guy who saves the day in this story, though there are possibility of missions where their target may be a bad person. All and all, they kill people and steal things for a living, and overall, the guild has no shame in this._

_I don't actually know yet what relationships among the guild will look like. It really depends on the submissions that we see and that we end up accepting. I know we will be accepting some amount of OCs and we don't know how many, but the form and such is on this profile. Please read over everything before submitting._

_I hope you enjoy this fic and I'm ecstatic to write it. XD Chapters will normally be between 4k-10k words. I just need characters beforehand. If you know my other account, please, please send your OC to this collab account. You may message my other account and tell me you send it or something, but other than that, please message this account.  
><em>

_OC submissions are currently closed, now. Sorry!_


	2. Chapter 2

**January 19****th****, X791, nighttime **

"Sound Magic: Mute!" a young male with short, messy crimson colored hair said, placing one sun-kissed hand over the sniper rifle of the male who was lying on his stomach next to him. His round eyes-which matched his hair in color then went to the armed guards who paced around the premise of the manor, which was a rectangular, three story house with yellow and white bricks making up the walls. The windows were decorated ornately in gold that formed small swirl pattern over the pointed frames of them. The roof was made of round, bright orange shingles and came to a large point.

At that moment, three mages lay low in the bushes behind the golden fence, which was lined with electrified, magic-cancelling, barbed wire. The one in the middle of them appeared to be the eldest of the three. He had sleek black hair that was swept back to reveal a widow's peak. One bright green, narrowed eye was staring down the round, black scope of a mahogany colored, wood-patterned sniper rifle. The other was covered by a black eye-patch, though his acid green, bleeding dagger guild mark could be seen poking out of all sides of it. His skin was mocha colored and he was dressed in a brown leather coat with a high collar, along with a very dark green turtleneck sweater, black skinny jeans and black leather boots. He stood at six feet, with a narrow build and the red haired male was about two inches taller than him.

The red haired male lay to the sniper's right, his eyes bouncing between his teammate and the guards. He was dressed in a dark red sweatshirt over a black t-shirt, gray, ripped up jeans, and black and red high top sneakers. There was a pair of large, white headphones over his ears, and though there were no wires, music could be heard very faintly. However, when the bright green eye of the man drifted towards him with an annoyed sparkle, the music stopped in an instance.

The third member was humming lightly under her breath. She was to the sniper's left and had her elbows on the ground, resting her chin in between her two palms, her legs in the air, though they were hidden by the bushes. Her eyes were very round and large, with medium lashes. They were bright fuchsia in color, standing out against her chestnut colored hair. Her hair was pulled into two low pigtails on the back of her head, each with two pale green spheres holding them up. Her bangs were messily cut, with the middle being the longest, coming to the middle of her nose. Her face was round with high cheekbones and heart-shape to it, unlike the two males, who both had more oval, narrow facial builds. Her skin was sun-tanned, with freckles sprinkled across her nose, cheeks and shoulders. She was dressed in a mid-drift, white t-shirt under a mid-drift, pastel green vest, her cleavage exposed by the v-shaped neck of the shirt, along with forest green shorts that were held up by a silver chain and worn lime green sneakers with hot-pink laces. Her guild mark was lime green and lined with pink, and rested on the outside of her right ankle. She had an over-sized, black cloak over her back, that she planned to tighten when they started their assault.

The girl would have looked like a child, if not for the large bust on her chest and the way her hips seemed to curve in just the right places. Her speech didn't help the child-factor either. "Jebbie… Eshi wonders if you can hit all of them!" she said, leaning her head on the sniper's shoulder.

Jeb, the sniper, flinched when he leaned against her. "N-not if you don't be still, Eshika," he responded in a very low voice.

"Eshi is sorry," the girl quickly said, dusting off Jeb's shoulder and leaning back to her side of the ground.

"Do you think I should silence her?" the red haired man asked in a joking tone.

However, the girl didn't catch the joking part, as her rose-colored, bottom lip poked up. "Ataru is so mean. Eshi said Eshi would be good."

Ataru, the red haired male, chuckled at this. He wanted to point out that Eshika didn't actually say that she was going to be good, but Jeb's sigh of frustration made both of the mages lay low and watch him.

And then the bullets started to fly. Silently, each of the guards that came into Jeb's focus dropped as long, magical bullets pierced their heads.

Eshika clapped silently, not letting her hands actually touch, while Ataru just watched patiently.

After five guards dropped like flies, the other ones began running into the manor, and Jeb managed to take out two more before the doors closed and the place was silent. "We need to move fast," he said, hopping up and placing his sniper rifle on his back.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Ataru asked, standing as well, his eyes on the girl who was over a foot shorter than him as she twirled around.

"Jebbie is the bestest gunner in the entire world, he knows how to make 'em all. Fall. Down!" Eshika chanted as she twirled. When she felt the eyes of her teammates on her, she stopped. "Eshi is very sorry, but she can't wait to kill Mr. Big Meanie," she said, folding her arms over her chest.

"Do you remember the plan, Eshika?" Jeb asked, a tired tone to his voice. He rolled his shoulders as he watched the girl, he felt his stomach churning. This was definitely not going to work. He just knew it.

"Yep!" Eshika responded. "Eshi's gonna fly!" she said, holding her arms high in the air.

"Okay, here we go," Ataru said, stepping forward. Unlike Jeb, he wasn't quite as doubtful. He, Jeb and Eshika had been working together for a bit over two years now. First, Master Stonewall had asked he and Jeb to work together not long after Jeb joined, and then one day, Eshika asked to go, and so they became a sort of trio, doing most of their missions together, sometimes with the company of Jeb's younger brother, Quentin, if the mission wasn't too threatening.

Jeb nodded and with that, they picked up the tiny woman, Jeb taking her shoulders and Ataru taking her feet. They counted silently to each other while Eshika hummed, swaying the girl back and forth. On the count of five, they threw her with all of their strength, sending her high into the air and straight over the fence.

Eshika somehow managed to twist herself around in the air and landed on her feet. She quickly buttoned her cloak at the neck and held it close to her, turning and giving the two men a thumbs up. She then moved swiftly, her eyes narrowed. She had her hand out as she did so and was swiping at the air repeatedly. While it looked like she was just being silly, the two men knew that she was using her magic to look for something.

Eventually, a small card seemed to shoot out of the pockets of one of the guards and Eshika grabbed it. She then moved hastily towards her teammates. When she was close to them, she dropped the card, but before it could hit the ground, a small, white magic circle appeared over it and with a swipe of her finger through the air, Eshika used her magic to cause it to slide through the bars of the fence, not touching them at all.

When Jeb caught the card, Eshika ran to the shrubbery that was on the property and hid, while the boys did the rest of the work.

Jeb and Ataru walked hastily over to the front of the gate. They also wore the black cloaks, though they had been lying next to them in the bushes. Jeb swiped the card, and when a password came up, his eyes widened and he and Ataru exchanged glances.

Before they could even think about what their next course of action should be, a piece of paper flew through the gates and hit Ataru in the face, making him let out a surprised "The hell?!" and grab his cheek. When he heard Eshika's voice call his name, he looked to her and then followed her pointing finger to the ground. He picked up the piece of paper, unfolded it, and read it, seeing a random combination of numbers and letters on it. He handed it over to Jeb.

Jeb hesitated with worry, staring down at the piece of paper. Would it really be a good idea to just enter a random password into the machine? What if it alerted more guards? Then they may have problems. What if it shocked him or initiated some kind of defense mechanism that killed them on the spot? There were so many possibilities.

Ataru could see the uncertainty in Jeb's eyes, so without saying anything, he snatched the paper and entered in the password himself, surprised when the gate opened. "Damn… Didn't think it would work," he mumbled to himself with a cheeky grin spread across his face.

Jeb stared with his mouth opened, his brows furrowed, but when Ataru entered the gate, he followed.

"Mute, mute!" Eshika cheered, pointing to one of the lower back windows. They had already quickly made their way to the back of the house, and were now on the south-eastern corner of the building.

"Sound Magic: Mute!" Ataru commanded as a pale red magic circle appeared over the window.

Eshika then swiped at the ground, causing a rock to float upwards. She then shot her finger forward and the rock flew into the window, which silently shattered. She then dropped her finger, making the rock fall softly to the ground.

"Now, the icing on the cake…" Ataru mumbled to himself. A pale red magic circle appeared over his mouth and when he opened it, it made the sound of a door opening and closing heavily. The sounds of people running towards the front door of the manor could be heard.

"Ataru is so awesome, too!" Eshika cheered, hugging him tightly.

"Yep," Ataru agreed with a grin, patting the girl's back. He then let her go and they all three jumped through the window.

They found themselves in what looked to be a study, with huge bookshelves that stood from floor to ceiling, crammed with books and made of dark colored wood, along with one cherry-oak office desk in the center and a velvety, dark red chair that was embroidered with golden ropes around the edges. The floor was covered in a soft red carpet and the ceiling was cream colored, with a silver and golden chandelier hanging from it.

Eshika was instantly taking pens from the desk, commenting on which ones she thought were prettiest and then shoving them into the pocket of her shorts.

"Eshika," Jeb said, staring at her and sighing. He pinched the bridge of his nose and waited, opening his eyes when he felt Eshika's tiny hands grab his arm.

"Eshi is really sorry… Jeb is being even more Jeb than usual," she said, staring up at him with wide eyes.

"Wh-what?" Jeb arched a brow at her, wondering what she actually meant.

"Jebbie is being really…" Eshika paused, placing a finger under her chin and thinking. She eventually decided on imitating Jeb's facial expressions, pinching the thin bridge of her nose and letting out a sigh. After that, she let her eyes drift to the side, faking a worried look. "Like that. More Jebbie than usual!"

This made Jeb crack the faintest of smiles at her charade. He resulted in patting her head. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. You know me."

"You shouldn't get so worked up," Ataru whispered as they approached the closed door to the study. "We've got your back."

"I know," Jeb admitted. He always let his nerves get to him and it made him worry that Eshika and Ataru would begin to think that he didn't trust them, which would make them stop wanting to work with him, and while he was terrible at showing it, he appreciated the two mages that stood on either side of him. On top of dealing with him, they always tried their best around Quentin, too, even though sometimes Ataru lost his temper, which would result in spars where Ataru went easy on the young boy.

They opened the door quietly, Ataru not using his magic because he didn't want to exhaust his reserves.

They found themselves in a hallway that was lit with decorative wall sconces. The walls were an elegant, midnight blue and adorned with many different potraits and other expensive wall decorations, and the floor was dark brown and slick.

"Damn… How much jewel do you think we'd get if we gutted this place?" Ataru asked, staring some of the picture frames and wondering if they were made of real gold.

"That's… A good question," Jeb admitted, eying all of the expensive decorations with envy in his eyes. He tried to imagine what kind of bills he could pay with the money from all of the items, but then remembered that they had to focus on the mission at hand.

They crept along the walls, moving swiftly and silently. They had been given a sketched overhead map of the place by the client, along with where the target would most likely be, so they made their way to the stairs that were to the front of the building and hid underneath them, listening and trying to determine where the guards would be. It didn't take long for them to hear footsteps on the stairs and hear voices.

"Sir Perrington should be making his escape soon," one told the other as they walked swiftly.

"You'd think he'd have the intelligence to be prepared if he knew that good for nothing step-daughter of his was going to bit a hit on him," the other said.

"I guess he puts too much faith in his loyal servants," said the first, with a low sigh.

"We need to go…" Jeb mouthed upon hearing the conversation.

Ataru nodded and a magic circle appeared over his mouth. When he spoke, the sound of glass shattering sounded from the west hallway. He smirked deviously when the two guards on the stairs made a dash for the hallway.

Eshika and Jeb gave the Sound mage a thumbs-up and they quickly parted from the shadows, running up the stairs and down the east hallway.

Two guards were in the hallway and the three mages ducked behind a thick, low cabinet that was decorated with two lavishly colored flower vases before they noticed them. Ataru concentrated hard on the door that was down the hall from the door where their target supposedly was. A magic circle appeared over his mouth and he let out the noise of breaking glass, throwing it so that it sounded like it was coming from behind the door furthest from them.

Eshika hugged Ataru when she saw the guards running towards the noise, glad that he had managed to distract them.

He didn't respond, only started moving when Jeb motioned for them to move. They made it into the door, surprised that it was unlocked. Then again, the client had noted that the target wasn't smart, only rich. This was why Master Stonewall had labelled it as a B class mission. While there were tons of guards-even more since the target knew about the hit, the target was a buffoon, as the client put it.

Inside the room, which was a bedroom, with a large canopy bed, colored with golds and browns on the west wall, along with a nightstand and a chest at the end of the bed, both made of some sort of dark wood. There was a huge wardrobe that was left open with extravagant clothing strewn everywhere.

The target was a man dressed in a golden, three piece suit and brown loafers. He had a brown fedora on top of his curly mop of black hair and when he heard the door opening, he turned with fear in his beady brown eyes, hidden behind a tiny pair of round, golden rimmed glasses. He was thin man, probably in his late twenties or early thirties with narrow, hawk-like facial features and pale ivory skin.

"Oh, please god, no, don't kill me!" he pleaded, quivering in fear, his back against the wall. The window was open and there were two golden suitcases beside it. "I… I'll give you all the jewel or gold you want if you let me live." He already had tears streaming down his face, and when Eshika used her magic to move a vanity, which was on the east wall near the door, in front of the door, his knees buckled and he fell down, sobbing.

"And what did you do to get the gold? To get everything?" Ataru asked, a dark look in his eyes as he stepped forward.

"I… I… My late wife left it all to me!" the man sobbed, staring up at Ataru and his team like a lost puppy.

"And how did your late wife die, you scum?" Ataru asked, his voice low and deep.

"I…I…Don't know…" the man whimpered, his forehead falling to the floor as he leaned over. "Wh-what does it matter to you?!" he then asked in a low voice.

"Because, I think, maybe if you ask whatever god you pray to for forgiveness right now and admit-"

"I killed her! I poisoned her in her sleep!" the man began yelling hysterically. "I wanted all of the money to myself and… And… I took advantage of her stepdaughter and everything! I was bad! So horrible! But… But I can change!"

Ataru scoffed. "Well, maybe your god will find some forgiveness, trash," he said. "If not, maybe we'll meet again in the rivers of hell!" With that, he turned to his team. "Any dibs on the kill?"

Ignoring the loud sobs of the man, Eshika stepped forward. "Eshi wants to do it!" she said. She then looked around, and when she saw a coin on the vanity, she lifted it in a straight path into the air with her magic, making it on eye level with the man. She then sent it flying forward at bullet speed, going straight through the man's head and killing him, busting the window out in the process. "YAY!" she cheered, hopping up and down. It was barely noticeable, but she was sweating, as making something move so fast took a great toll on her magic.

"Wanna get his coinpurse for us?" Ataru asked, turning to Eshi, who could retrieve things with no fingerprints.

"Eshi will do it for Ataru and Jebbie!" Eshi said, jumping forward. With two flicks of her finger, she had the coinpurse in her hands. The two men could see how it was about to overflow with jewel. She handed it to Jeb, who were closer to her.

The group then exchanged glances and headed for the window. The only thing that the guards saw when they opened the door was the dead body of the target and the end of a black cloak as it descended.

* * *

><p>"Do you think it's okay for us to just take his coinpurse right now?" Jeb asked. They were now far from the property, having ran for a while. It was morning and they had made it to a small town that was far enough away that tracking them would be difficult. They had taken off the cloak that they wore and stuffed it into the backpacks that they had on their backs.<p>

"The client will get all of that land and the house, right?" Ataru asked. "Unless she has some siblings or stepsiblings that the request didn't mention. I think we deserve this. She's not paying much, after all."

"I guess you're right," Jeb said with a shrug. He then stopped talking as they walked into the inn and paid for one room with four beds, as Eshika insisted on being in the same room as them and the inn didn't offer rooms with three beds.

They headed to their room after receiving the key, finding nothing other than four beds in it, all four being twin with wrought iron bedframes and white dressings. The floor was cheap wood and the walls were cream colored.

Eshika threw her backpack on one of the beds. "Eshi's bed!" she cheered. She then dug through her backpack, finding pastel pink pajama bottoms that were dotted with bunny faces and a painfully bright lime green tank-top. She then vanished into the door on the far wall.

"It's soooo hard to believe that she's a year older than me," Ataru stated, finding a red t-shirt and after shedding all of his clothes other than his black boxers, pulling it over his head.

Jeb nodded. "She's… Definitely strange," he mumbled, shedding his clothes and changing into gray sweat-pants and a white tank-top. He plopped onto his bed, looking up at the ceiling. He was the oldest of the group at twenty-one, and Eshika was a year younger than him and Ataru two years younger. Collectively, they were one of the youngest teams in the guild, which made him feel even further away from actually being the adult he wanted to be.

"Eshi's ready for bed!" the girl announced when she emerged from the washroom. Her hair was now down, falling in a wavy mess in between her shoulder blades. She walked over to each of her teammates and gave them a kiss on the cheek, something that she did to any guild mates that were around when she went to bed, male or female. She then crawled over to her bed, but instead of sleeping, she fell back on her back and pulled out one of the pens from her clothing, which she had brought into the room with her. She used her magic to send it in a straight path into the air and then made it zoom back and forth on a horizontal line, altering the velocity of it as she did so.

Ataru fell back on his bed, seeing that his teammates were lying down. He watched Eshika after looking over and seeing that Jeb's eye was closed. "Did you invent your magic just for fun, Eshika?"

"Eshi didn't make her magic. Eshi just has magic to protect her family when her family was gonna get hurt," she responded. "Eshi loves both of her families a lot so she wants to protect them."

"Why is someone like you in a dark guild?" Ataru asked.

"Eshi likes stealing things because it reminds her of her first family. And she likes killing big meanie faces."

"I guess that's as good of a reason as any," he said with a small chuckle.

"Ataru and Jebbie are really nice, but they like killing big meanie faces, too, right?"

"Yep," Ataru responded. He really just didn't like the idea of having some Magic Council breathing down his neck, but Eshika probably wouldn't even understand that.

"Mhm," Jeb responded groggily.

"Ataru and Jebbie, we should have some fun when we get back to the guild," Eshika said, clapping her hands together. The pen fell and she caught it, dropping it into her backpack and then pulling her knees to her chest.

"I'm still gonna beat you," Ataru teased, flashing her a cheeky grin. He and Eshika sparred every-so-often, since Eshika had caught ear of Ataru's love for sparring. She was easy to beat, as she couldn't do anything about his speed.

"Jebbie will be on a team with Eshi!" she replied, pointing to Jeb.

Jeb opened his eye, glaring tiredly at Eshika. "I don't know that that's fair, Eshika," he said in a groggy tone. He was tired, having been up all night and he didn't see how his teammates weren't. Maybe that made him more like an adult.

"I'll take both of ya on," Ataru said with a grin, sitting up. "I think it would be a challenge, and if you don't think it's fair, Quentin and I'll be a duo and you two can be a duo."

"I… Don't know about that. Someone may lose an eye…." Jeb said, thinking about how bad at aiming his little brother was.

"Then Eshi or Ataru will have an eyepatch like Jeb!" Eshika said, clapping her hands together.

"If that happens, we've gotta act super serious and tired, 'kay, Eshika?" Ataru said, poking fun at Jeb's personality.

"Okay! Eshi thinks she can do that!"

"You two are pests," Jeb grumbled, taking the pillow that he wasn't using it and throwing it lazily at Ataru, since he was closer to him. The pillow made it halfway between the beds before hitting the ground. "And I don't think you'd leave more than a day with being serious, Eshika. It would kill you."

"That was lame, bro," Ataru said, looking at the pillow and then at Jeb.

"Eshi is serious when it matters and Eshi could be just like Jeb if she wanted to be," Eshika protested. She took her spare pillow and threw it at Jeb, using her magic to send it flying pretty fast, hitting him in the shoulder.

"Cheater," Jeb pointed out, seeing the white aura around the pillow before it hit him.

"Yeah, Eshika, you throw like a girl!" Ataru teased.

"Eshi is a girl!" Eshi protested. "Eshi bets Ataru throws like a boy!"

Ataru picked up his spare pillow and threw it at Jeb, hitting him fairly hard, not that it hurt, since it was a pillow.

"Why me…?" Jeb groaned. He then pulled the blanket up to his chin and yawned. He just wanted to be lazy and sleep. If only the other two in the room would sleep.

"Night-night!" Eshika said when she saw Jeb pull the blanket to his chin. She fell back and curled up under the blanket.

"Yep, night, er… Morning!" Ataru said, though he fell back, curled up, and listened to the music that played through his headphones.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__ It will always be Raiyane speaking unless otherwise stated, as Grumpy hates talking to people. X_X Anyway, hiya, guys~ Short chapter because I'm about to start classes again on the 7__th__ and wanted to get a chapter out. This was loads of fun, and to be honest, isn't really an accurate representation of the guild. Like, most of the characters are a bit quieter or serious-at least, which I'm fine with as it suits the atmosphere of the guild._

_Anyway, I have no preference to introductions of characters and the introductions will probably be over in three or four chapters. These three really stuck out as a team to us. Well, namely Jeb and Ataru, but I added Eshika as I think she fits, too. There are a lot of synergetic magic in the guild and it's gonna be a lot of fun showing duo or team missions._

_-OC submissions are closed for now, but I may open them later for characters who will be joining the guild because as of right now, I have it planned that everyone is already a part of the guild. If you dropped a review or said you would make a character, you can still make a character, and if you need the form, PM me. _

_-My chapters will get gradually longer. I'm bad at writing introductions, haha. X_X_

_**Credits:**_

_-Eshika belongs to me – Be honest, how many of you who've read my works guessed that? :P I love cheery girls, though with both Charon Cross and Silver Griffin, I made the cheery characters because I don't get many of them. ^^; Anyway, they're my favorite to make so I'm not complaining at all, and I have one more character that may not be as obviously mine that will introduced, later. Grumpy made Eshika's magic. It will be explained more later, as it may seem OP for now. ^^;_

_-Jeb and Quentin belong to Ogrespi._

_-Ataru belongs to Clean Kill._

_**Review Responses**_

_**I love reviews and I will respond to every one of them at the end of each chapter. Thank you all so much for the reviews! Remember, if you left a review or said you may make a character, you still have the opportunity to make a character! And if your character was introduced this chapter, tell me what you think of how I wrote them! Lots of love, guys!**_

_-XxFairytail DreamerxX – Thank you~ You have the opportunity if you decide you want to! :3_

_-MyDearWatson – I'm really happy you like the concept! It's definitely something different for me, as I'm more of writing for the good guys, haha. XP_

_-Deathslayer Night – We don't accept characters via review as people can see reviews and it spoilers characters. Unless you can't PM for some reason, in which case we will discuss it._

_-Clean Kill – I'm happy you like the concept of the town! And I hope I did okay with Ataru! :3_

_-Ogrespi – I'm really happy you enjoyed the description! I hope I did okay with Jeb! I'll properly introduce Quentin later. C:_

_-Origm2012 – I think we drew a good bit of inspiration from that and the Thieves' Guild in Elder Scrolls. I'm happy you're looking forward to the story! :3 _


	3. Chapter 3

**January 20****th****, morning**

"Let's see the costs of the souls of the damned today," a tired-eyed man said as he approached the mission board in the Charon Cross guildhall. He had dark green hair that was cut in a sort of square, buzz-cut, close to his head and his droopy eyes held a sort of dull green sparkle to them. He was just over six feet tall, with a body that could be compared to a pale stick. His facial features were slender and pointy, and his mouth was fixed into a sly, yet lazy smirk. He wore dark green slacks, a white button-up dress-shirt, a loose forest-colored tie and black dress-shoes. His hands were tucked into his pockets.

"Eustace," Onyx's deep voice made the male's shoulders tense as the eight-foot tall guild master approached him, walking with his upper-body slouched.

"Yes, richest of rich guild masters?" the man, Eustace asked, turning to the man with squinted eyes as he stared up at him.

"Don't even try," Onyx sighed. "And don't take a mission. I have one prepared for you."

"Whatcha' willin' to pay?" Eustace asked with a smirk, his tone picking up pace as he tried to bargain with the guild master. Occasionally, Onyx would come to them with missions that he thought they were specifically suited for the request. However, Eustace liked to "joke" around with the master, though he secretly hoped that one day, he would get some kind of extra reward.

Onyx's eye merely twitched in annoyance as a response to the man. When the door to the pub-like room opened and a woman walked in.

The woman stood at 5'4'' with a toned physique and decent amount of curvature to her tanned body. Her midnight blue hair was pulled up into a high ponytail that fell to the middle of her back and her almond-shaped, light green eyes held a peculiar look of disinterest shaded by long, dark lashes. The bottom portion of her face was covered by a skin-tight mask, but her face appeared to be heart-shaped. She was dressed in long sleeved, black under armor that connected to her mask, under blood red shorts that fell to the middle of her thighs and a very loose fitting, crimson t-shirt with flames embroidered around the ends, along with black tabi-styled shoes. Her shirt hung from her shoulders and would have reveal cleavage, if not for the under armor.

"Erin," Onyx spoke when he saw the woman.

The woman's eyes darted around the room noting that it was empty apart from her, Eustace and Onyx and then landed on Onyx as she walked over swiftly. "Yes, Master?" she asked in a slightly deep, formal voice.

"I have a request of you and Eustace," he said, folding his arms over his chest. When he saw that he had the attention of the two mages, he continued. "I need you to oversee a mission with a member that I… Suspect."

"Eh, you got my attention, rich," Eustace said, folding his arms over his chest and tilting his head in an inquiring manner.

Erin was quiet.

"The member is Zoe," Onyx continued. "While she has been in the guild for three years… I feel that she has been too choosy with her missions." He spoke in a low, quick tone, even though he had Zoe waiting outside and had sent some of the younger guild members off to distract themselves. The others were all away on missions.

"Hmmm… A regular rusted coin?" Eustace asked.

"You can stop with the money references," Onyx said, glaring down at Eustace.

"Master… I do not mean to impede, but you have always informed us to take missions that suit our skills, yes?" Erin asked, shifting the weight of her body from one foot to the other as she gazed up at her towering guild master. She didn't mean to argue with the master, but at the same time, she didn't think that a guild member like Zoe, who had a child, should be reprimanded for choosing her missions carefully.

"Yes… But you see…" Onyx frowned for a moment. "Do… Do you know what we, as assassins do to make a living?"

"We kill people," Eustace responded in a matter-of-fact tone, while Erin nodded.

"Right… Do you know what makes a bad assassin?" Onyx asked.

"Someone who can't kill people or someone who gets caught?" Eustace asked, arching a narrow brow as he watched his master.

"…What is the moral code of our guild?"

"To kill the target-regardless of all qualities?" Eustace asked. "And cut to the chase. What's up, rich?" he asked, losing his patience.

"I suspect that Zoe may have some biases when killing people… She hasn't really tasted blood," he explained. "As long time members of the guild, I trust that you two can… Oversee her mission and help her, but don't let her know that you will be evaluating her…"

"Sounds like an easy cash-out, if I'm gettin' paid," Eustace said with a smirk.

"I do believe that I can do this, Master," Erin said with a small nod.

"Excellent," Onyx said, unfolding his arm. "Zoe is waiting outside with the mission." When Erin and Eustace turned to leave, after exchanging glances to acknowledge that they would be working together, he spoke once more.

"One more thing…" When they turned to look at him, he added, "Do not kill the target. Zoe must be the one to kill them. No questions asked."

"Got it!" Eustace said, shooting him a thumbs-up.

"Yes, Master," Erin said with a bow of her head.

* * *

><p>Outside, a woman with silky golden hair that was tied back in a waterfall braid that fell to the middle of her back waited with a small piece of paper in her hand. She had large, round, cerulean blue eyes with medium, light lashes. She had a curvy, hourglass figure, ivory skin, a heart-shaped face with rosy pink lips, high cheekbones and a rounded nose with a glistening blue stud on the left side of it. She was dressed in a royal blue crop-top that fell from her shoulders, revealing a bit of cleavage, and ripped up, faded blue jeans, along with sapphire blue boots that were mostly hidden by her jeans. She stood fairly tall for a woman, at 5'9'', or 5'10'' with her shoes.<p>

"Hmm…. I wonder why in the world he would make me wait out here," she mumbled to herself as she stared down at the scribbled writing on this paper. She had been standing around for what felt like hours, but had maybe been one hour, tops. When she heard footsteps on the stairs of the ruins, she turned to see Eustace and Erin.

"You're Zoe, right?" Eustace asked. He then smirked and made a bunch of golden spheres surround his hand as they swirled around it. "I was wondering if you were interested in buying some super awesome marbles. I'm sure your darling son would enjoy them."

Erin closed her eyes as a vein swelled on her forehead. She had worked with Eustace a couple of times in the past, but it didn't mean that she enjoyed it. He had an unhealthy obsession with money that she always feared would get in the way of the mission and it made her irritated. She didn't speak, though.

Zoe sweat-dropped at Eustace, a nervous laugh escaping her lips. "I know your magic, Eustace," she said in a soft tone, watching the spheres circle his hand, her eyes following them. It wasn't to say that his spheres weren't pretty; she'd already fallen for his scams, back when she first joined the guild. She wasn't falling for it again.

The spheres vanished, fading into nothing and he sighed. "Oh, well, it was worth a try," he said with a shrug. He then turned to Erin, who instantly opened her eyes and glared at him.

"May I see the mission, Miss Zoe?" Erin asked, holding out her hand.

Zoe handed over the mission.

Erin's eyes quickly skimmed the mission while Eustace read it over her shoulder. Her brows furrowed as she messed with the end of her ponytail. "Okay," she said, handing the mission back. "Let's make haste," she added, beginning to walk.

* * *

><p>The group didn't actually talk that much during their travels to their destination. Erin was naturally a quiet woman and Eustace only talked about money, which was something that neither of the other assassins really had a deep interest in. Occasionally, Zoe would try to start conversations by asking them things like what they liked to do in their free time or what their favorite types of missions were. Eustace's answers always involved something to do with money, while Erin usually spoke briefly about combat and strategy.<p>

"I think we have some things in common," Zoe said, when the morning of the next day came and they found themselves near their supposed destination. They had eaten and were walking again, all dressed in normal clothing as to not stand out. That was generally how most of the members of the guild traveled; they covered up their guild mark if needed and then tried to blend it. Not that it was hard, since no one knew what the members of Charon Cross looked like.

"Really?" Eustace asked, disbelief in his voice. "Someone must have paid you to say that."

"No…" Zoe shook her head. "We're all members of the same guild and we all like strategy involved in our fights, but at the same time, we can all cause chaos with our magic, right?"

"I guess I can see your point," Eustace said, his eyes going to the sky as he thought about it.

"Master Onyx knows what he is doing. I doubt that he would ask us to work together if he saw discrepancies in our combat styles," Erin said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I guess that's true," Zoe said with a small shrug. She then sweat-dropped as she spoke again. "I'm really happy to be working with you two. I've only worked with Dia and Ceres in the past and it's nice to work with someone new."

"Hm," Eustace shrugged. He didn't really care who he was working with, and he was pretty sure he had worked with nearly everyone in the guild at least once over the five years that he had been in it. Except for Zoe and Erin, whom he was now working with.

Erin was quiet.

"You know, I'm not going to say anything if you voice your opinion, Erin," Zoe said, looking over to the quiet mage. "You seem so shy."

"I'm not shy, Miss Zoe," Erin replied. She wasn't lying; she just didn't have a response to most things and it took effort for someone of her quiet nature to come up with something. Still, she thought about what Zoe had said and eventually replied. "I generally work alone, though Master Onyx has made me work with quite a few people over the years." Her eyes went to Eustace as she spoke, glaring at him. She ended up with the money-hungry jerk a lot due to the more chaotic natures that their magic exhibited.

"I enjoy working with people sometimes," Zoe said with a small smile.

They fell silent after that, until they got to a giant wall that seemed to block out the afternoon sun from them as it towered over them.

With confusion in her eyes, Zoe looked to both of her teammates, who both seemed to be looking at the wall with a bit of question in their eyes. She pulled the mission out of her pocket and looked at the sketched map that was on it and then read it. "I… I'm guessing that this is what the client meant by high security…"

"You think…?" Eustace mumbled, staring up, trying to see over the wall. He was pretty sure it wasn't happening, even if they backed up. The destination was well-protected.

"I would like to think that this warrants more than a 'high security' remark," Erin mumbled.

"So…" Eustace stared, wondering what to do.

Erin placed a hand on Zoe's shoulder, using her secondary magic, which made a magic circle appear over Zoe's chest before fading. "You can be seen, but not sensed in any other way,"

"Thank you, but why…" Zoe's voice faded when she looked up at the wall. She realized that they must have wanted her to scale the wall and look over it.

"Be quick, and careful, Miss Zoe," Erin said, her face stern. She hated relying on someone else, but she was smart enough to know that it was smartest to send someone else. Besides, it wasn't like she had a way to scale the wall.

After that, all three of the assassins donned their cloaks, which were simple, solid black cloaks with hoods that completely shield their face. Apart from their height and general body size, it was impossible to judge their appearance.

"Okay," Zoe said with a nod. With that, she lifted one of her arms up and it began to glow as she called out, "Chain Make: Grappling Hook!" in a hushed tone. A chain shot from her palm, shooting up and hooking silently onto the edge of the wall. The blonde mage let out a sigh to calm herself before the chain began retracting back into her skin as she was pulled up the wall.

"Think this is gonna go well?" Eustace whispered, leaning against the wall. "This mission seems like a hard check to cash, y'know?"

Erin was silent as she watched Zoe, not feeling that anything from her warranted

When Zoe made it to the top of the massive wall, she hung by her chain and used her other hand to grab the wall and pull herself up, just so that her eyes were peering over the wall. Inside, she saw many buildings that were mostly made of various stones, along with a giant-dome like building that was in the middle. The main thing about the town that caught her attention wasn't the style of the buildings or the cobblestone walls. It was the state of the town.

The town was walled in, but quite a distance away from her, she could see one of the many entrances to some sort of mine. The town was covered in some sort of black smog that she could smell even from her place on the wall. Along the cobblestone paths of the town, workers traveled between the mines, the ones coming from them looking worn as they wheeled out carts full of various ores. All of them seemed slouched and though Zoe couldn't see their faces, she could only guess that they were tired.

After looking around more, her eyes landed on the guard towers that were situated on each corner of the wall. Her eyes widened, but none of them seemed to be looking her way. Another quick glance at the town showed that there appeared to be guards stationed all throughout town.

She quickly fell from the wall after that, lowering herself to the ground and landing in a crouched position. "It's a mining town. There are lookout towers and guards stationed throughout the entire town," she explained quickly, her voice low as she spoke.

"Hm…" Erin's eyes dropped to the ground. "We wait until the requested time is upon us, and move quickly when the time comes."

"So… It's just a steal something, plant some evidence, venture in the next day, and hit confirmed, right?" Eustace asked. "And then sweet, sweet payout," he added in a quicker, lower voice, rubbing his hands together.

* * *

><p>The trio waited until nightfall, hidden against the wall so that the guards in the lookouts couldn't see them. When the sky had become dark, they stood, ready to complete the first part of their mission.<p>

"Chain Make: Grappling Hooks!" Zoe whispered. When she raised her hands this time, three chain shot out and hooked the wall, one coming from each of her palms and one from her chest. "Ready?" she asked, turning to her teammates.

"Yes, Miss Zoe," Erin said, grabbing onto one of the hooks.

"Yep," Eustace replied, taking the other hook.

With that, the silvery white chains shot them up into the air and in an instant, they all three flipped over the wall, though it was Zoe doing most of the work. As they fell, they were silent, silenced by Erin's magic, and Zoe's hooks caught just before they hit the ground, allowing them to land on their feet.

"We must go to the house in the middle, first," Erin said as they hid behind the nearest building, the shadows cloaking them while Erin's magic disabled their perception to the senses of others. "We need to move fast," she added. She wanted this to be done right, even if she was mostly overseeing Zoe and she wanted no mess-ups.

With that, Erin peaked her head out from behind one corner of the building and Eustace looked out of the other corner. Both of the mages instantly withdrew back behind the building after spotting guards.

"We're gonna have to book it on the rooftops," Eustace mumbled. "They got this place more locked down than a maximum security bank."

"Why do you think it's like this?" Zoe asked in a small voice. In the middle of the night, the streets seemed mostly barren apart from the guards, but she could still remember the tired souls of the miners who were working and it saddened her.

"It is not our concern," Erin said. "We only need to move right now," she added.

Zoe nodded in response and pulled them up onto the roof with her chains. When Eustace and Erin took off without a word, she was thrown off, but she had no problems catching up to them as she used her chains to pull herself onto the next roof, where her teammates already were.

Once they made it close to the center building, they all three dropped onto their stomachs, their cloaks blending in with both the night and the dark, arched roof of the building that they were on top of.

"There are guards surrounding the entire building," Zoe breathed under her breath.

"Zoe, Eustace. I'm going to create a distraction. You two, take out the guards that don't leave, if necessary," Erin said.

"Righto," Eustace replied.

"Okay," Zoe responded.

With that, Erin moved in the blink of an eye, hopping a few buildings back and then heading west-away from the wall where they had entered-far enough that attention wouldn't be near her teammates. When she was certain that she was far enough away, not even able to see the other two assassins, she fell onto her stomach and searched for something that she could use for a distraction. She saw a small square of cement that was off in the distance and made a move for that area.

She worked with precision and haste as she moved to a bulletin board that was near the center of the square, which seemed to be some sort of marketplace, as made apparent by the many market stands and carts that were around the square. The dark haired woman placed a hand on the bulletin board, causing a blood red magic circle to appear on it.

After flipping back through the air and landing on the nearest roof, which was far enough away that it was only shaken by her next action. "Explosion Magic: Outburst!" she whispered. And with that, the magic circle that she had placed on the board blew up, causing the loud noise of explosives and stone crumbling, and catching the board on fire.

After the explosion, all of the guards began to panic, many of them making their way towards the town square as Eustace and Zoe laid low. Just as Erin had assumed, two guards stayed behind after being commanded to watch the mayor's house.

"I'll take one and you take the other," Eustace said. This was his first opportunity to judge Zoe. Without standing, he seemed to grab something out of the air and when he threw his hand as if he were throwing dice, he called out "Sphere Magic: Marbles!" and threw a dozen small, golden marbles that landed at the feet of the two guards and exploded with small crackling noises.

The guards were separated by this-dancing around and trying to avoid the tiny explosions- and Eustace stood. When one of the guard's eyes landed on him, he extended one of his hands, balling it into a fist when he called out "Sphere Magic: Hand Cannon," causing his hand to be surrounded by a golden sphere. When he un-balled his fist, the sphere went flying, exploding in the guard's face. Eustace only shrugged it off as the guard's limp body fell to the ground.

"Chain Make: Dagger Hook!" Zoe called after watching Eustace. She stood and a chain shot from her palm, embedding the dagger on the end into the other guard's stomach. She then quickly retracted it and watched as the guard fell to his knees, holding his stomach as blood poured onto the ground.

"He's not dead," Eustace stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

Zoe looked at him from the corner of her eyes and then nodded nervously. She shot the same chain out once more and it pierced the throat of the guard this time, effectively ending his life.

"Nice job," Eustace said with a shrug, staring at the dead guards, waiting for Erin now. "And there she is," he mumbled under his breath when the small girl landed next to him.

"Good job, you two," she said. "Move fast," she reminded them as she hopped down used her magic to silence the shattering of the window. However, it was at that moment that she realized her own mistake and she grimaced. She had been using her Perception Magic on three people and as she wasn't used to working in teams-especially with two or more other people-she had miscalculated the amount of mana that she would be using.

"Runnin' out of money?" Eustace whispered before they climbed through the window, finding themselves in a dark room that appeared to be a bedroom. He had noticed that she was starting to breathe heavily, even though she was trying to act as though nothing was wrong.

Noticing the bed actually made Eustace and Zoe freeze, not expecting to be in a bedroom. However, Erin spoke.

"It's empty," she noted, noticing how flat the dressings of the bed were and how silent the room was. However, it did look like the chamber of an official-not a guest, as it was decorated lavishly, with royal blues and purples all over the room. She hastily looked around for something to steal, something that would be noticed. When she saw a very expensive looking necklace that was sitting near a jewelry box, she walked over to the vanity in the corner and snatched the necklace with a thick glove, another item that they were given by the guild.

After that, the trio managed to make it out of the room and out of sight just as the door opened.

Once they had made it a good distance away, Erin debated on handing the necklace to Zoe, but she remembered that Master Onyx had only stated that there were problems with Zoe killing people, so she decided that she would do it herself.

"The house is this way," Zoe said as they hopped from rooftop to rooftop. However, they had to stop and crouch when Erin lost her balance and fell to her knees, panting. "Are you okay?" Zoe asked, placing a hand on the girl's back after turning and walking over to her, worry in her eyes.

Eustace just watched her, placing one hand on his hip and looking down at the two girls.

"I'm… Fine," she replied, pushing Zoe's hand away. She was definitely not going to be able to hide them anymore.

"Don't worry about using your magic on us anymore," Zoe said, smiling slightly. "We're almost done, and I can take the necklace if you wish."

When Erin shook her head, Eustace spoke up. "It would be wise for you to give it to one of us. We can plant it easier, with range."

Erin glared up at him, but realized that he was right and handed the necklace to him, figuring that he would be able to complete the mission easiest. She felt weak and her annoyance was obvious by the way her brows were furrowed. She was absolutely infuriated with herself.

Eustace didn't have time to worry with Erin's little issues, so he just continued after getting Zoe to allow him to peak at the mission. "You two stay here," he said before he hopped to the next roof, making sure to keep his footfall light.

"You know, you don't have to be upset; we understand," Zoe said. They were both on their stomachs now, as it was the best position to hide in.

"…"

Zoe let out a soft sigh. She had only really known Erin-beyond name and achievements in the guild-for a couple of days, but she already knew that she would be a tough person to get through to. She couldn't help but to wonder if the other woman was lonely.

At the same time, Eustace made it over to the house of the destination, noting that for the area that he was now in, there seemed to be guards looming everywhere. He just had to find the right person. He crawled along the roofs and leapt from place to place until he noticed a sign that read "Diamond Drinks".

The green haired assassin smirked and then jumped to the roof of the building, where he began to wait patiently. The mission said that the target would be coming out of the bar sometime during the late hours of the night. They had specifically requested not to kill them on the spot, but to instead, find some way to get them put in jail and then come to the jailhouse the next following night.

And while this mission had seemed sort of sketchy, Onyx had apparently assured her that it was an old friend who was requesting the mission, so he was to be trusted. Not that Eustace really minded. If the client tried to put them in prison, he had no doubt that they would just kill him and take his money.

The sphere mage snapped out of his thoughts when the door to the bar opened and a large man with sapphire blue hair walked out, belching loudly as he did so. He was dressed in guard uniforms, minus the helmet.

Eustace smirked, recognizing the description of the man from the mission. He then scanned the area, wondering how to go about planting the evidence. After a while, he decided to go about it easily. "Sphere Magic: Vault," he mumbled, his voice barely audible as the necklace was incased in a golden sphere, that then hovered down and vanished above the man's head, dropping the expensive necklace on the man's head.

The necklace bounced off and the man let it drop into his arms. "Whath's 'is?" he slurred, staring down at it. With a shrug, he shoved it into his pockets and continued to hobble down the streets.

"Jackpot," Eustace said as pressed himself to the roof, waiting for other patrons of the bar to pass before he made his move back to the females.

* * *

><p>When the next night came, the trio repeated the same process once more, though this time they traveled along the roofs to the south-western part of the town, where a tall, eight story, solid black building with thickly barred windows stood. They didn't have any need to sneak at this moment, since the time of meeting was right.<p>

They landed in front of the door of the building, hidden by the shadows of the building and pressed a small button that was beside the door, signaling for someone to answer the door.

A small man, standing a couple of inches shorter than Erin appeared once the door opened-sliding open after the sound of some sort of mechanical mechanism went off. He was dressed in a complete guard outfit-consisting of black and gray clothing with silver chest-plate, armguards and shin-guards, so his only notable features were his bright amber eyes, which contrasted against his reddish-brown complexion.

"We have come to ferry the soul of the damned," Erin said in a deeper voice, trying to mask her own voice as she spoke. This was what they were generally supposed to state when meeting with a client.

"Ah," the man grinned at the sight of them. "Follow me," he said, an odd, heavy accent in his voice. None of the guild members recognized it, though. Once the three entered the prison, the man closed the door. "My name is Aryxen. Onyx and I work together many time, before I become nice guard," he explained.

The mages didn't talk. They were always told not to talk to clients, more than needed.

"How long have you working for Onyx?" the man then asked, looking over his shoulder.

Again, no one spoke.

"Oh, yes, I see Onyx trains only strong silent type, much like him," Aryxen said, looking over his shoulder with a broad grin.

With that, he led them through the prison, to a jail cell where the blue haired man sat, sobbing pitifully.

"Please… No!" the man instantly jumped up, staring in the eyes of Aryxen. "I know I messed up back then, but I've changed! I'll do anything for you and the tall man!"

"You don't remember his name," Aryxen said, glaring at the man. "You are shame to the blade. Shame. And now, you die by Onyx disciples." With that, he opened up the prison cell and then turned to the three mages. "He is of yours."

Gently, both Eustace and Erin pushed Zoe forward and when she looked back at both of them, they nodded.

"Wh-what did he do?" Zoe asked, speaking in a low voice as Erin had. She wrapped her arms around her as she stared at the man.

"I didn't do nothing!" the man shouted, seizing his opportunity. "Years ago, I tried to turn them in for being the dirty crooks they were! Don't you see that your Master is a dirty crook?"

When Aryxen opened his mouth to speak, Erin, who was standing behind Zoe, brought a finger up to her lips, so that Aryxen wouldn't defend Onyx. This was something that Zoe had to think about. While one couldn't leave the guild after joining-for the safety and secrecy of the guild, one could choose other methods of relieving themselves from the guild, and if Zoe couldn't come to terms with killing the target, Onyx would deal with her.

"Master Onyx is an honest man," Zoe eventually said, after silence filled the prison for a few moments. While she did agree in some aspects, that the life that they led was dark, Master Onyx had agree to let Seth call Charon Cross his home when he was only two and even watched him and acted as a sort of father figure towards him while she did missions.

After that, she took a long breath and added, "And I must say that you have met a horrible end, stranger." With that, she called out, "Chain Make: Dagger Hook!" and shot a chain from her palm, the dagger-like end stabbing into the man's throat.

* * *

><p>Back at the guild hall, when the trio returned, it was morning and since Seth was up and hyper, Zoe went out to play with him around the ruins, while Onyx called Erin and Eustace over to him before they could even have a drink.<p>

"'S'too early, rich," Eustace said with a loud yawn.

"The mission went well, Master," Erin said, already knowing that this was probably what the Master wanted.

"She didn't seem bothered by it?" Onyx asked.

"No, Master. She killed the target and a guard effectively," Erin said. She then looked up at him and squinted. "Not to sound rude, but have you always worn an eye patch, Master?"

Onyx nodded to himself at the first part of her words, but his visible eye widened at the next part. His hand then went to his face and he removed the black pirate eye-patch. "Sorry. Seth can be quite rambunctious in the mornings when his mother isn't around," he said, throwing the eye-patch to the side.

There was silence between the three for a moment.

Eventually, Onyx cleared his throat and folded his arms across his chest. "Thank you both, you are dismissed."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__ Hi, guys~ Hope you enjoyed the chapter. For those of you who read Silver Griffin, sorry for not updating it yet. I have quite a bit of it written and I've been working on them simultaneously. These chapters are shorter, so naturally, it was finished first. And this story is faster as I don't have to space out and plan to solve my blocks, I just have to ask Grumpy for help. Silver Griffin and Naiad Drop take some time for me to plan, especially Naiad Drop. Silver Griffin will be updated this weekend, though. :3  
><em>

_**IMPORTANT notes for the chapter:**_

_-There will be three more introduction chapters before the Intro Arc is over. I can't say when each character will be introduced; just know it will be over these next three chapters._

_-If there are any relationships-rivalries/friendships/romance/otherwise-that you would see apparent, feel free to say so, especially if your OC is part of it. I want some romance in this, but I'd like some opinions._

_**Credits:**_

_Erin belongs to Origm2012_

_Zoe and Seth belong to XxFairytail DreamerxX, but Zoe's magic was designed by Grumpy._

_Eustace belongs to AkumaXHwaorang_

_The idea for this mission was mostly Grumpy's. I said I wanted an infiltration mission with these three characters and he did the rest of the idea. I just polished and detailed and then wrote it._

_**Review Responses:**_

_**As always, lots and lots of love from me for reviewing! We both appreciate the reviews and it's so awesome to get review! :3**_

_-DarkHyena – I'm really happy that you enjoyed the chapter! I hope this project goes well! We have lots of ideas~_

_-Clean Kill – I'm so happy that we portrayed Ataru well! And sorry about not mentioning the small change, but it was last minute to give him some more utility. And yeah, that team is one of the most prominent, I think. :3_

_-Ogrespi – Eshi doesn't know lots of words. XD I'm really happy I did okay with Jeb! I get so nervous with my portrayals. :3 And I'm happy you like Jeb's team. Quentin's introduction will come soon. Sorry about that. Still working it out. X_X_

_-Origm2012 – Just because they are a dark guild, I'm not gonna make things always dark, though it will get a lot darker and a lot more gruesome. X_X I love third-person speaking characters. It's so cute! X3 Don't worry about it. She's still really fun to work with. I hope I portrayed her okay. She seems like she may be too formal. I wasn't sure, but her speech habits made me imagine her kind of formal speaking. I imagine her voice being something like Kagura or Erza. _

_-Qyresh – Yeah, there are quite a few characters that aren't too dark, but they all have their dark points, of course, as they are able to kill people for a living. I'm really happy you enjoy the characters. I hope we can make all of them fit into the story well. :D_

_-Barrett M107 – I'm always worried that my characters are too similar. X_X I like happy characters, but I try to give all of them their own twists. There will be at least one character of mine that will be introduced later that wouldn't be as obvious, I think. :I I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter._

_-Baseball 22 – I'm happy people are enjoying the introductions! :3_

_-reven228 – I love cheery characters. X3 And I hope the fault thing isn't bad… X_X I couldn't tell if it was or not. I feel that they have their faults, but Grumpy told me to show better sides first. I was originally gonna have them fail so that you would see their weaknesses, but Grumpy told me that would be a bad impression._


	4. Chapter 4

**January 21****st****, X791, midday**

"So… Boring!" a young woman groaned to her two orange haired teammates as she kicked absentmindedly at the ground. Said young woman was decently sized at 5'4'', with a decent amount of curves to her dark caramel colored body, though her chest was bound tight by charcoal gray bandages. Along with the bandages, she wore black athletic short-shorts with a white stripe down each outer thigh, black leather fingerless gloves, and charcoal gray wraps around her feet. Most of her muscles were left showing, including a toned stomach and legs. Her hair was hot pink in color and fell to the middle of her face in a shaggy mess of soft spikes that left her neck and half of her ears exposed. Her semi-round minty green eyes-framed by hot pink lashes-drooped in boredom as a scowl made its way onto her round face.

One of the two teammates was a woman and she laughed at the pink-haired woman's state of boredom. Her hair was bright orange, cut short in the back, to leave her neck exposed, while falling to her collarbones in the front, parted to the left, with soft bangs covering her left brow. Even the light breeze that surrounded the mages lifted her light hair. Her large, golden eyes-framed by long, straight lashes-sparkled with amusement. Overall, her face resembled a heart, with heart-like lips to match and a small, pointed nose. She was a couple of inches shorter than her female friend, with a curvier figure.

She was dressed extremely girly, especially compared to her athletic friend. The top of her hair was covered by a simple, chocolate colored cap, with a round top, bill, and a brown rose on each side of it. Her body was covered by a green, frilly dress with orange flowers decorating it. Said dress had a slightly wide neck and sleeves that fell loosely to the middle of her forearms, with the ends of the dress stopping just above her knees. Under that, she wore white stocking and knee-high, brown leather cowgirl styled boots, with a light floral pattern at the top. A long, black, string necklace hung from her neck, a shimmering white flower pendant on the end.

The other of the two teammates was a male, and his hair was a darker, auburn color, parted to the right, with medium length that covered his ears and the right side of his forehead. His eyes were narrowed and dark brown in color, and his face was narrow and sharp, with high cheekbones and a slender nose. His skin was sun-tanned and while he was about average height, standing at 5'9'', he looked tall because of his teammates. He was fairly well built, with a huge, brown leather backpack on his back, over two blades that were mostly hidden by said backpack.

He was dressed fairly simple in a blue, high collared jacket and black jeans that were tucked into large, brown combat boots, along with black gloves.

"Quiet, you," the male snapped. The woman was whiny. "Missions aren't all about fighting," he quickly added before she could complain more.

All of the members of the trio were members of Charon Cross and they had been out on a mission for about two weeks already. The pink-haired woman was named Sakari, and while the other woman, Dia and the male, Carel were both quite okay with such a relaxed missions, the pink haired woman was getting antsy.

"Why the hell would ya bring me on a mission like this?" Sakari asked, tucking her arms behind her head. After a moment, she pouted, letting out a grunt. "I wanna kick some shit! Not follow ya 'round to mines! Who the hell likes mining?"

"You complain a lot," Carel stated, looking back at her with furrowed brows. Really, this was probably a job that he could have done alone, but both of the girls were equipped with pickaxes and backpacks as well, so it sped things along. Not that it was even his choice to take them along. When he took the mission from Onyx, the master had called the two women-who were commonly seen together in the guild, over to go with him.

"I am certain that miners at least have some preference towards mining," Dia started. "Then again, maybe they're too young to decide," she added with a laugh.

Carel sweat-dropped at her joke while a vein swelled on Sakari's forehead. "Dammit, Di, your bad jokes dun' help the situation!"

Carel shrugged off the situation. "The next mine is up this way," he said, as he led them up a small trail to a hole in the side of the mountains. They could see the small torches that lined the entrance from their standpoint.

"Uhggggg," Sakari grumbled. Onyx was going to hear it when she got back. She didn't see why she of all people had to accompany his prized blacksmith in gathering materials from mines all across Fiore. It was a boring mission. The more chance of fighting the better and this was pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum.

"Come on, Kari~" Dia said, bumping the other girl with her shoulder. "Just think of it as a fight. What's tough, durable and able to put up lots of fights, after all?"

"These rocks dun put of a fight," Sakari said. However, they were in a fairly nice looking mine, where the crystals glinted in the light of the torches, giving them an appealing glow.

"They're so pretty," Dia said with a laugh, clapping one of her hands over her cheeks. "Do we really have to destroy them?"

"They will be used to produce only the finest of weapons," Carel said, looking over to her. He then produced a pickaxe out of seemingly nowhere and began to work on breaking apart the crystals and picking up the fragments, examining them before putting them away in his backpack.

Dia, with her own pickaxe, was swinging away at the rocks, all while singing a tune. "Stab, stab, gather, stab, stab, gather…" she chanted over and over again, her eyes happily closed as she worked.

"Sheesh, you're gonna get that stuck'n my head," Sakari grumbled as she bashed away at the rocks. She didn't even really take that much care to look at what she was gathering. This was the fourth mine that they had been in since the start of the mission, and she was just tired of seeing rocks. Even if they were shiny, or nicely colored rocks, they were still just rocks.

She stopped grumbling after a few moments and eventually began to hum along to Dia's little chant while they worked.

They worked through the day, with Dia singing various tunes as they did so and Sakari often times humming along. They stopped after a few hours, once Carel had decided that they had done enough for the day.

It was nighttime when they emerged from the mines, all covered in dust and sweat. It wasn't that any of them cared too much, though. They busily set up a camp so that they could eat, sitting down around the fire once their meal was done.

"So yummy!" Dia commented once she took a bite out of the charred fish, bathed in a sweet fruit sauce that the trio had prepared. If one thing was for certain; between the three, they were mages of convenience.

"Is it really an intelligent decision to-" Carel was going to ask about Sakari's means of storing food and other necessities, but when he looked over and saw that her face was in her bowl and that she was eating messily, he sweat-dropped and decided to not even bother with his question, knowing it wouldn't get through.

Dia followed Carel's gaze and laughed. "The only thing feminine about her is her love for shoes," she said.

Carel's eyes dropped to Sakari's feet, which were shoeless and he sweat-dropped again. "I cannot confirm that I see this," he said. However, he did know the woman's magic, so maybe that was it.

Sakari dropped the bowl and hopped up when she was finished, placing her hands on her hips. She pointed to Carel, a huge smirk on her face. However, she didn't get time to say what she wanted to say before a group of five thuggishly dressed men hopped from the forests that were near them, huge grins on their face.

None of the three mages were surprised, but they were all standing, with Sakari in the front, by the time that the thugs landed.

While four of them looked remotely the same, with shaken heads that had a grin tattooed on the side of the their skulls, and the front-standing one-obviously the leader, was a bit bulkier, with a rounder, shaven head and a huge grin on the front of his sleeveless black shirt. His right arm was covered by a huge black gauntlet.

"Hi," the leader of the group spoke in a devious tone. "We saws ye gettin' those minerals today and we gott'sa say… We're gonna take 'em from you."

"Really?" Sakari asked, tilting her head in question, her hands still on her hips. "I'm like, shakin' in my skin, right, Di?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at Dia.

"Oh… For what is there left to do but kill after tea has been spilled," Dia mumbled under her breath, her eyes dark as she stared at the broken tea cup on the ground. While she hadn't been scared by the men, she had accidentally dropped her tea when getting up.

Carel's eye twitched at how fast Dia's mood had changed. He hadn't actually worked with her that often, so he was much more accustomed to her cheery side. He didn't have time to concentrate on that, though and instead pulled the two short-swords from his back and readied them. The one in his left hand was a dull blue color, with a lacrima at the base of the guard, while the one in his right hand was pale orange, with a clear lacrima in the middle of the blade. They were both rather simple, but they got the job done.

"Oh… Wows… What's a two little girls and some prissy boy gonn'sta do to us, right boys?" the man asked, looking to either of his sides. "Let's give 'em hell." However, even though the leader had used the word "Let's" implying that he would be participating in the fight against the assassins as well, but he stepped back and the four look-alikes stepped forward.

One of them held simple dual daggers that sparked with electricity, one had a leather whip that was surrounded by wind magic, one had a pair of charcoal colored tonfas that blazed with fire and the other had a blue sphere that had about a seven inch diameter in his hands.

"Damn," Sakari hissed rolling her eyes. "Jus' usin' magic weapons? So L-A-M-E," she said. With that, a gray magic circle appeared under her feet and her body was bathed in silvery light. When the light vanished, her upper body was covered by a mid-rift, sleeve-less hoodie and her feet were covered in ankle-high, white sneakers with black laces.

"Doesn't look like you're anythin' special," the wind-whip user said. "I'ma have some fun dominating you, pinky."

As the whip user spoke, he lashed out at Sakari with his whip.

Sakari wasn't much concerned about his attack and instead jumped into the air at a rather quick speed. Within a flash, she was drop-kicking the whip user over the head and then flipping back, landing on her feet and bouncing on them, sort of like a boxer would.

The whip user was down for the count as he held his head, but that didn't mean that the mages were done with him. Dia called out "Valkyrie Magic: Valkyrie's Javelin!" in a loud, happy voice. With that, four javelins formed a wing shape on each side of her back, glowing with a wide spectrum of colors. "What can pierce the heart and leave one breathless?"

Just as the whip user attempted to climb to his feet, a javelin from each wing flew at him. One pierced his chest and the other his throat and he went down with no protest, the only noise being the gurgling sound that escaped his lips as they spewed blood.

"While the answer could very well be 'love'," Dia started, placing her index finger under her chin. "I do believe the word 'javelin' could also work," she finished with a girly giggle. The remaining javelins danced behind her back as she spoke.

The other three thugs didn't even move after that. They just watched as the whip user writhed for a few seconds in a pile of his own blood before going still, his eyes losing all of their shine.

It wasn't until the unmoving leader yelled, "Well, what'sa keepin' ya waitin'? Attack 'em!" that any of them moved again. Even though his words and his face were harsh, his voice held a tone of despair. Maybe they hadn't expected the trio to be mages.

The man with the sphere instantly went for Dia, growling as he did so, while the man with the tonfas went for Sakari and the dual-dagger user went for Carel.

The orb in the man's hands instantly began to glow bright blue and after a few seconds, it shot out a blast of water magic, which Dia dodged tactfully, jumping into the air, flipping and letting two javelins fly at the man. She was actually fairly surprised when he managed to dart back and dodge both of the weapons, while there was fear in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Carel's blades collided with the electrical daggers of his opponent, making a crackling sound as they did so. Instantly, the blade in Carel's left hand began to glow and the thug tried to step back as he was overwhelmed by the lack of heat suddenly in the air around him. The blade began emitting a faint blue light and Carel stepped back, tapping the two blades together and grinning at the astonishment in the man's eyes as his right blade burst into flames.

Sakari grinned at the man with the tonfas, deciding that she might as well have as much fun as possible. She danced around him, her feet barely even gracing the ground at the speed in which she moved. She kept her arms up like she may throw a punch, though she had no intentions of doing so. She just danced around and around, snickering at the fact that the man with the tonfas stood no chance of hitting her.

"Still think' I'm jus' a lil' girl?" Sakari asked as she patted the man's head, laughing when he tried unsuccessfully to hit her. "Oi, Di. Their heads are so shiny, don'tcha think?"

Dia giggled when she heard Sakari's words. "I concur," she responded. She then turned back to the sphere wielder, who was watching in worry as his teammates seemed to get no damage through, all while their boss just watched with sweat pouring down his forehead. After she smiled, a colorful magic circle appeared over her mouth and she called out, "Valkyrie Magic: Ultrasound!" The odd thing about her spell was that only Sakari and Carel could hear it; while the thugs saw the orange haired girl move her mouth, with waves of colors bursting from it, they weren't sure what had had happened.

"Aw, Di, 's'like it's my birthday," Sakari said with a grin as she was bathed in a rainbow aura. Her opponent began to back up, not sure what to expect. Not that he had time to think about anything. In mere seconds, Sakari's foot had collided with him from every angle, bruising his body.

"Catch, Di!" Sakari cheered as she landed one final kick on the man's rump, sending him flying into the air with a cry of pain. She continued to bounce on her feet as she watched her friend.

Dia grinned. "Shall love find you in the rivers of the underworld," she said in a poetic, rhythmic voice before two javelins skewered the man mid-air, his blood covering the grass in between Sakari and Dia. Her sparkly golden eyes then turned to her own opponent and she tucked her arms behind her back before the final two javelins shot out, one embedding into his forehead and the other into his stomach as he fell to the ground.

Carel wasn't fully familiar with Dia's spell, but he was lighter and when he moved, he smirked at his newly found speed. Within seconds, he was on top of the thug, who was begging for mercy.

"Please! No!" the man begged, dropping his weapons at either side of himself and looking over at the three bodies of his fallen comrades. They were all lying in a puddles of their own blood and the javelins had vanished. "BOSS!"

The leader of the group stared in horror while Carel slit the throat of the man, burning flesh as he did so. He backed away, even though the gauntlet on his hand was glowing. "I'llss… I'llss… Kill you…" he coughed out pathetically, unable to mask any of the fear in his voice. In seconds, four of his men were downed, and the scariest part was that none of the mages even had to break a sweat.

The thug leader shout out his gauntlet and opened and closed his fist, causing magic to burst from the gauntlet, forming the glowing outlines of a large purple grin that attempted to chomp at Dia. He had in mind that Dia was the most stationary, so she would be the easiest to take down.

Dia stepped back without even opening her eyes that had been happily closed. "Oh… It seems as though you've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" she asked, her arms still tucked behind her back. If not for the blood all around her feet, she would look like a schoolgirl straight from a girly romance anime.

"Hehe," Sakari smirked before practically vanishing with her high speed. "Can ya keep up?" she asked when she appeared behind the man, who attempted to turn around, letting out a bellow of fear as he stumbled away from the pinkette.

Sakari then appeared behind him again and kicked him playfully in the back, putting enough force only to make him stumble. "C'mon. Ya gotta do better than that!" she said.

The thug leader attempted to run away from her after she kicked him, but she appeared in front of him. "I jus' wanna have some fun!" she said. "Ya wouldn't be agains' a girl havin' some fun, wouldcha?"

"Jus' leaves me alone, ya winch!" the thug hissed in a shaky voice. He attempted futility to punch her, in which she dodged.

"So LAME!" she finally huffed. She stopped bouncing on her feet and her eyes became dark. "Give 'em hell, Carrie!" she then called out to Carel, who was watching the scene with an analytical expression on his face. She then roundhouse kicked the thug leader, sending him flying in Carel's direction.

Carel was quick to react, darting forward and slashing through the man with both of his blades, his speed allowing him to avoid all blood that splattered from the man's body.

There was a moment of silence between the the trio as Sakari changed back into her regular outfit, Carel put his blades away, and Dia pulled out a napkin to wipe a bit of blood off of the top of her shoe.

"Awesome job, team!" Sakari cheered, giving them two thumbs up with a huge, boyish grin spread across her face.

"I must agree," Dia said with a bright smile. "The current state of the ground reminds me of a dozen crimson roses that have lost their petals in the prime of their lives."

Carel sweat-dropped. "You two… Aren't okay in the head, are you?" he asked. He sometimes thought of himself as an odd individual with the way that he had a tendency to overthink things, but looking at his two female companions, he felt so… Normal.

"Psh…" Sakari waved him off. "Ain't nobody in our guild a'ight in the head," she said with a huge grin.

Dia nodded in agreement, humming lightly as she walked over and began packing up her backpack.

* * *

><p>The trio moved camp, deciding that it wouldn't be a good idea to camp next to a bunch of dead bodies, even if they were the bodies of people that probably wouldn't be missed. They didn't talk for a while and Dia was the one to break the silence.<p>

"I do hope that Quess is okay," she said under her breath. "I feel bad for leaving him in Onyx's care." She added with a small giggle, cupping her cheek in her palm in a cute fashion.

"Who's Quess?" Carel asked.

"He's my owl," Dia said with a bright smile. "I simply could not fathom him to enjoy this sort of mission, so I asked Master Onyx if he would tend to him."

"Oh," Carel responded. He then looked to Sakari, who was smacking loudly on chewing gum, her eyes on the night sky as they traveled. His eyes narrowed in annoyance at her lack of mannerisms. "What were you going to ask me earlier?" he asked, recalling that she had been pointing at him before the attack.

Sakari blew a large, neon green bubble that smelled of apples and once it popped and she slurped the deflated gum back up, she shrugged. "Hell if I know," she said with shrug. Something then dawned on her and her eyes widened. "Oh. I was gonna ask ya if ya wanted ta spar, but I got ta fight, so I'm cool now."

"Oh," Carel responded again. He then turned to Dia as she began to hum some random tune to herself as they walked. His eyes swiveled between one girl to the other, a series of veins slowly swelling on his forehead. They both had annoying habits and on top of that, neither of them seemed to mind each other's annoying habits. "You two can't enjoy peace and quiet, can you?" he asked.

"Silence is bo-ring," Sakari responded, smacking on her gum in the middle of her last word.

"Yep," Dia responded in between her humming.

"So… Ironic for assassins," Carel mumbled under his breath, his swollen veins turning to sweat-drops. "Why would you two even be in our guild?"

"I like it," Dia responded in a happy voice, a bright smile on her face.

"I dun' got a choice," Sakari responded with a small frown. "Not like tall-man'll letcha leave if ya find tha guild, y'know," she added.

Carel furrowed his brow, wondering if he should inquire further on Sakari's words. However, he didn't do it, deciding that he really didn't know the woman enough to bother her.

* * *

><p>At the guild hall, there were all of three mages present in the pub of the temple. They were the three youngest mages of the guild; Seth, Quentin and a boy named Jacob.<p>

Seth was by far the youngest, at only five years old. He stood at a mere 3'3'' and weighed less than a hundred pounds with a slim frame that was clothed in a baby blue t-shirt with a brown puppy face in the middle of the chest, simple brown shorts and brown buckled sandals. His hair was dirty blonde, falling to his brows and over his ears in a wavy mess of soft locks. His large, brown eyes-situated on his cream-colored, chubby face-peered over the table at the card game that the other two boys were playing.

The next youngest was Quentin, the thirteen year old brother of Jeb. His hair was the same jet black color of his brother's, though it was cut in a messy bowl style, with fluffy locks swooping out in every direction. His round, green eyes-which were a tad brighter than his brother's, were focused on the cards in his hands, his dark brows furrowed as he thought. He stood at 4'10'' with a slim, prepubescent build. His skin was the same, mocha shade as his brother's. He was dressed similar to his brother as well, with a long brown overcoat, though his was short-sleeved with a hood, over a bright orange shirt, brown breeches, black sneakers and black fingerless gloves.

Across from Quentin was Jacob, the oldest of the three at fifteen years old. His hair was black like the other boy's, but it was shorter, leaving his forehead exposed as it spiked out in a mess, leaving most of his neck and ears exposed. He had ivory skin that made his dark green eyes-framed by dark lashes pop even more. His facial features were narrow and his body was fairly athletic, standing at 5'3'' and weighing over a hundred pounds. He was dressed in a bright yellow t-shirt, black denim jeans and yellow sneakers with black laces. While Quentin was at least trying to look interested in the game, Jacob's eyes were peering around the guild.

However, it was surprisingly Quentin that gave first, sitting his cards down on the table and standing. "Man, this is boring," he sighed, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck. His eyes then looked to Jacob and after he followed the older boy's darting gazes, he grinned. "Ya thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

Jacob stood with his own boyish grin that looked surprisingly innocent compared to the rather devilish grin on Quentin's face. "Yep," he said.

With that, the two boys darted over to the mission board, their eyes quickly skimming the large amount of missions that were on the wooden bulletin.

Seth jogged over to them, squeezing in between them and staring up at them with sparkly eyes of innocence. "Master Onyx says until we're ready, we gotta be accompanied by a good member," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"And that old stick ain't around right now," Quentin replied deviously, placing his hands on his hips as he continued to read the board.

"Besides, rules are meant to be broken, Seth," Jacob added, patting the younger boy's head and then pointing to a mission that was on the board. "How 'bout that one?"

Quentin looked to the mission and after reading it, snatched it up. "A'ight!" he cheered, holding the mission into the air as Seth jumped for it.

"But Master Onyx…." Seth whined, reaching his short arms up for the mission. "He's gonna get mad."

"Nah… Not if we complete the mission," Jacob said, pushing the boy's arms down. He then had a thought after seeing the Quentin was getting annoyed with the kid. "If we let ya go with us, will you promise not to tell?" He knew that Seth wanted to go on missions, as he wasn't allowed at all, unlike he and Quentin, who were allowed to as long as they were with one of the trusted members.

Seth stopped reaching for the mission and stared, wide-eyed, at Jacob. "But…" he started, his bottom lip sticking out in a pouting manner.

"Master Onyx will be happy if he knows you're doing good with the magic he's teachin' ya," Jacob continued with his grin still on his face.

"Yeah," Quentin started in after realizing that Jacob was doing the only thing that they could really do without Seth possibly telling Onyx on them. "It'll be a blast!" he added, giving the small boy a thumbs-up.

Seth was silent for a moment. His mommy would probably be proud of him, too, if he did a mission all by himself. His eyes began to sparkle at the thought and eventually, he nodded eagerly. "Okay!" he cheered, easily influenced by the two other boys.

* * *

><p>They didn't make it far.<p>

In fact, the three younger boys were out and about for all of thirty minutes, making to the southern exit to Anemone before the earth around them began to rumble loudly, causing tears form in Seth's eyes.

They grouped up, with Quentin pressing his back to Jacob's back, both of them keeping one hand on Seth's shoulders. The rumbling grew worse and worse until cracks began forming in the ground. It wasn't long before the three found themselves hurled into the air as all of the earth around them became uprooted.

Seth cried out in fear and while Jacob focused on holding the tiny boy close, Quentin pulled out two revolvers that were identical to his brother's. The bright eyed teen watched as the uprooted earth formed a 10 foot tall golem with a small head and huge shoulders and chest. He swiveled in air and instantly began to fire a spray of magical bullets at it, not even trying to concentrate on actually hitting the automaton.

They all landed on their feet and Jacob pushed Seth behind them as he stood close to Quentin. Bright yellow magical seals appeared over his fists and then they began to spark with electrical magic, while Quentin hadn't laid off his fire.

The electricity in Jacob's fist flared up and he charged forward, slamming his fist into the golem's chest. A cry of pain and surprise sounded through the air when the golem simply swatted him away, causing him to go skidding across the ground.

"Dammittt….." Quentin hissed under his breath as he continued to fire rapidly. When the golem attempted to slam its fist into him, he was quick enough to dodge by flipping out of the way. He never let his triggers go, even though he was draining his magic at a crazy rate. "Where the hell would somethin' like this come from?!" he shouted over his own fire.

"I dunno," Jacob breathed, rolling to his feet. "Electric Magic: Raging Bolt!" he called, shooting his palm forward as a bolt of electricity shot from it with a crackle, bouncing off of the golem uselessly.

Seth stayed huddled behind the two boys until the glow in the golem's eyes became familiar to him. He recognized the grayish purple glow. In an instant, he was dashing in between the golem and his teammates, holding his arms out as if to protect the towering hunk of rock. "Stop it!" he shouted.

Quentin stopped shooting as to not hit the little kid and glared at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he snapped, not even bothering to control his temper.

"Seth, it's not very smart to stand in the middle of the field," Jacob pointed out. However, he did realize that the golem wasn't as eager to attack Seth as it had seemed to be with him and Quentin.

"It's Master's golem!" Seth continued. "They're good guys like us," he continued, patting the golem's knee.

"We're not good guys…" Quentin pointed out with narrowed eyes. That was what made them so cool. They got to play the villain.

"Just please…. Don't hurt him!" Seth continued to beg, pretty much ignoring Quentin's words.

Jacob and Quentin jumped back when a shadow darted across the golem. They both readied themselves to fight, but instantly stopped when Master Onyx landed in front of the golem and knelt to place a hand on Seth's head. "You shouldn't trust all golems, Seth… I am not the only one in the world who uses this type of magic," he explained.

"But it is yours!" Seth insisted, stepping back and craning his neck to be able to look up at Onyx. "It is! It looks like just like Rusty!"

"This is true…" Onyx said. "But just remember my words," he added. He then turned to Quentin and Jacob with a more stern face, compared to how he looked at Seth.

"We weren't doin' nothin'," Quentin started before he could scold them, a sweatdrop appearing on his forehead. Their master wasn't the most easygoing, gentle man in the world. He was usually stern with pretty much everyone other than Seth.

"Is that so?" Onyx asked, his stern, cold expression not faltering. "Pray do tell…. What would have become of you three had this not been my golem?"

"We wouldn't fudgin' killed it!" Quentin said, flipping both of his revolvers into the air and catching them.

"Yep! "Jacob agreed.

"Really?" Onyx asked. He then patted the golem's chest, dusting it off. "And… Is there a scratch on its chest?"

"Nope," Jacob responded, sweating more and more by the second.

"I see..." Onyx mused. He then stepped closer to the two boys, placing a large hand on each of their heads. "Confidences breeds success. Arrogance breeds failure. I suggest that you two learn this fine line before taking another mission…"

Jacob forced a cheeky grin and nodded as best as he could under the weight of Onyx's hand and Quentin merely stared up with annoyance in his eyes.

"Once you two learn this lesson and learn that you simply cannot fool me, I may consider letting you two out on a mission, with just the two of you," he said. He then dug into his pockets and pulled out a slip of paper, waving it in front of the boys so that they could see that it was the mission that they had stolen. "Now… I bid you both a good day and will be happy to inform my golems that they will not be on cleaning duty today."

And with that, the master was gone with Seth following behind him, and the golem stepped away from the three boys before crumbling.

"Shit-take," Quentin hissed under his breath. "How does he always find out?!"

"He's the master. Maybe he really is always watching us or something," Jacob said, tucking his arms behind his head and sighing. His eyes then widened when he finally fully registered the master's words. "But he did say that we could go on a mission if we learn his lessons!" he said with a grin.

"Hell yes," Quentin said with a grin, fist-bumping with Jacob. They would become the top assassins in the guild. He just knew it!

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__ Hiya guys~ Sorry for the long time no update. Busy week. Like, every couple of weeks will be a busy week for me, since all tests ever have to be the same week for me, always. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! I had hella fun writing this one, as usual. Tell me what you think of my portrayals of these characters!_

_**Sorta important notes for this chapter:**_

_-There will be missions in the future that will give the assassins hell. The introductions are meant to give you a taste of their magic and we purposely planned to give them easier missions first._

_-Everyone will be introduced in trios, if I haven't already said that. They may not always work in trios, but it's just easier._

_-Two more introduction chapters left! Honestly, maybe even one, if the missions turn out to be short. I'm ready to get past the introductions, you guys. :3_

_**Credits:**_

_-Sakari - me, (Raiyane)_

_-Dia - Qyresh_

_-Carel – Paperman0_

_-Quentin – Ogrespi_

_-Jacob – Baseball 22_

_-Seth – XxFairytail DreamerxX_

_**Review Responses:**_

_**Thank you so soooo much as always! We appreciate the reviews like you wouldn't believe! Lots of love as always! :D**_

_-Qyresh – I'm really happy you think that way! I'm glad to know I'm doing really well with characters. :3 Eustace definitely has his own little personality and I think a lot of the characters in this story have unique speech habits and such, so hopefully they'll be memorable. And Erin does have a ninja-esque appearance and I think it does make her memorable. :3 And no, it's fine. I want to eventually show every characters' weaknesses as well as their strengths. Grumpy said that all guild masters need to look quirky, and I think making Onyx really tall would also be ironic, since he's supposed to be stealthy and height generally plays a bad role in this. The chain magic is really fun to work with. I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter! I hope you enjoyed this as well and hopefully I portrayed Dia well! :D_

_-Ogrespi – Onyx has some odd ways about him. XD And I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter. I hope I did okay with Quentin. :3_

_-Baseball 22 – Grumpy is amazing at coming up with magic if you give him time. :D And I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter. Hopefully I did okay with Jacob. :3_

_-AkumaXHwaorang – I'm really happy I did okay with Eustace. I was really nervous about him to be honest because his speech and personality is not something that I see a lot. Anyway, thank you! I try my hardest to make sure everything I release is quality. :3_

_-XxFairytail DreamerxX – I'm really happy you like the idea. Anyway, I hope I did okay with Seth. :3 I'm really happy I did okay with Zoe, too. :3_

_-DarkHyena – I'm am so surprised that someone caught the inspiration behind it. XD Grumpy realized after he made it that it seemed like Scorpion. XD I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter. c:_

_-Origm2012 – I try to think about how each character would look in an anime when I'm writing. I have voices for all of the characters in my head, but I'm just not familiar enough with voice actors to just list them out. XD I'm really happy my comedy is plentiful. I think it makes a lot of people see this as Akame ga Kiru because of the fact that they're assassins, but their likeable, unique and interact well. Grumpy actually got a bit annoyed about me portraying it that way, I think. There aren't a lot of magics similar to Erin's, though. :U And I think Zoe having a kid is definitely a nice touch. It gives the guild in general some color, as do all of the mages. I just really love how colorful the guild turned out. I'm happy that Eustace went over so well. He's a very well made character, but his personality honestly intimidated me like hell when I saw him. X_X_

_-Barrett M107 – I'm really happy you like my characters~ :3 Yeah. I really like that about Zoe, too. I'm really happy you enjoyed all of the characters! They were fun to write bust honestly some of the most intimidating to write. Happy you enjoyed the chapter. _

_-reven228 – I'm super happy you enjoyed the chapter! I'm really glad people are enjoying the chapters even though they are just introductions. I like to get all of my characters introduced before going into important arcs because I feel that it's a bit easier to write. :3_


	5. Chapter 5

**January 21****st****, X791, evening**

"Now, just remember, the Great and Almighty Takuto will be the one to shine during this mission," a man with long black hair that covered his neck and was kept behind his shoulders spoke, holding his arms out. This man was rather tall, standing just under six feet with a fairly athletic build. His skin was a natural, dark, tanned color and his eyes-while closed at the moment- were dark brown. His right eye had a white guild mark and thin, dark eyebrow over, while his left eye was covered with a burn scar-leaving only scar tissue where the eyebrow should be. He was dressed in an olive green hooded vest that was lined with white fur and left open to expose his toned pecks and abs, along with black and forest green pin-striped pants and black boots.

While he didn't look odd, his appearance was made oddly flamboyant by the fact that he was riding a very large, pastel pink web-footed Kiwi bird with lime green spots, beak and feet.

"I'd be hopin' that no one's gonna be doin' any shinin' on an assassin mission," the smaller male to his left said in a heavy, Mafia styled accent. This man could easily be mistaken for a prepubescent teen, standing at 5'4'' with a thin build that lacked muscle. His skin was ever-so-slightly tanned by the skin, complimenting his messy, spiky blonde hair and round, bright blue eyes that were framed by pale lashes. He was dressed in a white button-up dress shirt with a black tie under a white and black pinstriped vest, black slacks and dress-shoes.

"Quiet, Maxwell, before I make Villa peck your eyes out!" Takuto snapped.

The male to Takuto's right let out a very small, almost inaudible grunt. This male could probably be mistaken for a model. He had long, straight, pale blonde hair that fell to the middle of his shoulders, smooth, pale skin that made his long-lashed, bright amber eyes look even brighter. His face was gentle, with chiseled features and thin, dark lips. He was just above average height, making him stand a couple of inches shorter than Takuto, and his body was lean, with only the faint hint of muscles. He wore a long sleeved, white top that exposed his right shoulder, dark gray pants that had a series of white leather belts wrapped around each leg, and white sneakers with baby blue laces and stitches.

Takuto let out an annoyed huff and turned his attention back to the road that they were traveling on. He didn't necessarily like the company that he was with. Hell, there existed very, very few guild members that he actually got along with. However, Onyx, the oh-so-annoying master of few words had stated that he had three days to take a mission before he was kicked from the guild… Also known as killed, most likely.

The thing with Takuto was, even though he inspired to be an infamous dark mage that was known throughout the entire world and feared or admired by the masses, he hated missions where his name wouldn't get known. The thing about his guild was that they specialized in secretive missions. As such, Takuto spent a lot of his time in the guild hall, trying to make sure that every member would remember his face and name. He would only snatch up the odder missions that came by.

Maxwell had overheard Takuto grumbling about being forced to take a mission and had offered to let him tag along with him and Mao, being the rather friendly assassin that he was.

Takuto didn't really mind working with Mao, simply because he knew of Mao's indifference towards pretty much everything, and as such, the pompous mage figured that Mao stood no chance of trying to steal his thunder.

Mao, on the other hand, was just tagging along with Maxwell. They were friends… Or something like that. It was more of… There was a chessboard in the guild hall and the two often found themselves placed against each other and so they had gotten to know each other over the two years that Mao had been working for Charon Cross. And Maxwell was always taking people on missions with him, so Mao just ended up with him a lot.

"We shoulds stop at dat coffee shop when the bunch of us gets ta town," Maxwell said, fiddling with his tie to make sure it was straight and nice looking.

"I guess the Oh-So-Charming Takuto could go for a pastry," Takuto said after a moment of thought.

Villa let out a tiny, sheepish chirp and tilted her head to look up at Takuto.

Takuto petted the giant bird's head and smiled down at her. "Of course we'll get you something, too."

Mao watched Maxwell with curious eyes. Their targets were the family in the coffee shop, and yet Maxwell wanted to sit and have a drink before they killed them. A peculiar thing, at least a bit. He wondered if it would hurt, since Takuto's guild mark was blatantly obvious. Then again, did anyone even know what the Charon Cross guild mark looked like? How many missions had been failed in the past, leaving people with lasting impressions of them? He didn't know, so he decided to ask. "Maxwell…" he spoke in a soft and gentle-yet oddly bored tone to the short male.

"Yeah, boss?" Maxwell looked past Takuto to Mao.

"Just how many missions has Charon Cross failed in the past?" Mao asked. He was surprised that the question had never come to mind. Who knew? Maybe it had and he had forgotten.

Maxwell furrowed his brows. "I thinks the big boss has killed most of the folks dat've screwed up," he responded. There had been more than eighteen-not including Onyx- members of Charon Cross. When he had joined, there had been twenty, but many of them had messed up to many times and met the sharp end of Onyx's blades. There were also those who realized that they couldn't actually kill people, and they had been killed off, too.

"I don't blame him," Takuto said, while Mao pondered just how many people Onyx had killed in his life. "He has to clean up their messes when they make mistakes."

"It's not like our name isn't known, though," Mao commented, looking up at the sky as if there would be answers there. He had heard mentions of the assassins who ferried the souls of the damned into hell, and he had always figured that this was them.

"They don't knows what we looks like, though, " Maxwell explained. "No one knows da guild mark or any of our faces."

"The heads of those who are remembered will roll," Takuto said, attempting to quote Onyx with an annoyed tone to his voice. "That doesn't mean that the Marvelous Takuto will go unnoticed, though."

"It kinda does, boss," Maxwell stated with a wry grin.

Takuto glared at him in response.

* * *

><p>They made it to the small town of Chamomile by very early morning and instantly headed to the nearest inn, attempting to book one room that had four beds. They got some protest for Villa, but it didn't take long for them to resolve the issue.<p>

"I'm sorry, but we only allow service animals in this inn," the man behind the counter, who was a thin, older gentleman with salt-and-pepper colored hair and a rectangular mustache that covered his upper lip, said in a firm voice. "Your... Bird… Will have to rest outside for the night."

"Are you sure you want to displease the Infamous Dark Mage Takuto?" Takuto asked in a dark tone.

"Dark mage?" the innkeeper asked, a sweat-drop forming on his forehead. "Are you three really dark mages?" he asked, looking over the three men.

Dark lines crept down Maxwell's forehead and he didn't respond for a moment.

Mao watched the scene, wondering why Takuto would just blatantly introduce himself as a dark mage like that.

"We are, and if you mention it, you'll find yourself in more pain than you can handle," Takuto said, leaning against the counter. "You may not have heard of me, but I'm quite the big deal, and I have no problem killing those that I deem to be under my glory."

The inn-keep's emerald eyes widened and he backed away a bit. He trembled for a moment before saying, "O-Okay… Pl-please proceed to y-your room. M-my lips a-are sealed."

Mao's eyes narrowed as he watched the man. "He's lying," he stated flatly. He could tell by the man's body movements. The way he kept his limbs frigid and close to him and the way he was making sure not to look at the Charon Cross trio, making sure to swivel his eyes around the room instead.

The innkeeper let out a whimper at this, backing up until his back was against the wall.

Takuto was getting ready to use his magic, but he didn't have the chance to as a huge, dark steel claymore stabbed into the man's chest, skewering him and covering the counter with blood that shot from his mouth. As a vein swelled on his forehead, Takuto turned around to see a 5'10'' knight, clad in solid black armor behind him, both of his hands on the large sword.

"What in the world?" Takuto snapped. He wasn't surprised by the knight, as he knew what it was, but he was more annoyed by the fact that he had wanted to kill the man. "That was my kill!"

"Eh, sorry there, boss," Maxwell said, peaking his head out from behind the knight, both of his hands held forward with barely visible strings attached to the it. He snapped his fingers and after a black and white magic circle appeared on the ground, the knight removed his blade from the man's body and sunk into the ground.

"Tragic," Mao commented emotionlessly, staring at the body that was now slumped over the counter. "I do feel as though sleep should not be in our schedule, now." There would be an investigation soon. And then they would find out that they were not citizens of the town and they would be under investigation, which would lead to Onyx killing them. A sad thought, really.

"You'll be the Marvelous Takuto's next kill if you steal another kill like that, runt!" Takuto grumbled at Maxwell, who was already heading out of the inn with Mao by his side. He draped one arm over Villa, who was now shaking, scared by the murder of the inn keeper.

Maxwell looked over his shoulder when he heard the word "runt" and for a second, his eyes glowed fiercely. "Don'tcha go makin' fun of my height, less you wanna end up bein' a shish kebab," he barked.

"Humph," Takuto turned his nose up to Maxwell and picked up the step so that he could follow them out of the inn and through the town.

The trio walked hastily, looking around the small town for a café known as the Daybreak Roast.

When his eyes landed on the tiny, one story building with a large coffee-cup-shaped sign on the front of it, Mao pointed towards it. "This seems to be the place," he stated, reading the haphazardly painted letters that read "Daybreak Roast: Wake up the right way!" to himself and frowning. Such a lazy slogan for a coffee shop.

"A'ight," Maxwell grinned to himself and headed down the street.

Takuto turned to Villa when they got to the front of the shop. "Stay outside, girl," he said, petting her head and giving her a quick kiss on the top of her beak.

Villa chirped in response. The timid bird did not like any kind of violence and when Takuto knew there would be violence, he left her outside.

Maxwell attempted to open the door, only to find that it was locked, even though a faint jingling noise could be heard inside the shop when he tugged at the door. Oh, right, it really early morning. The sun was barely even rising yet. He turned to look back at his teammates, but Takuto stepped forward before he could say anything.

Takuto banged on the door repeatedly for about five minutes, until footsteps could be heard inside the shop.

A middle-aged woman with her tumbleweed colored hair pulled back into a low ponytail and her body covered by a brown and white duster answered the door, rubbing her eyes. "What in blue blazes would cause ya ta have ta make such ruckus?" she asked.

Takuto put on a sad, innocent face. "You see… Ma'am… We really need something to drink… We're travelers… And we ran out of supplies," he explained in a pitiful, weak tone.

The woman eyed them suspiciously. "Y'all don't look like no travelers to me," she said, placing a hand on her hip and noting how clean their clothes were.

Mao stepped forward now. "While this is true, you should not judge a book by its cover," he said, flashing a small, somehow sexy smile.

This made the woman blush and after a bit of consideration, she let them into the small coffee shop, which consisted of a brown wood floor, a country styled olive green and white wall, and many brown round tables with ornate country-styled chairs and some booths with floral olive green backs.

Mao noted as the woman locked the door behind them and turned to them. "Sorry 'bout not bein' dressed, y'all," she said as she led them further into the restaurant. She stopped at a booth and turned to them. "Will this be alright, hun?" she asked.

"This is perfect for-" Takuto was about to go into one of his flashy introductions, but Maxwell spoke.

"This is great," he said, slipping into the booth beside Mao and letting Takuto sit in front of him.

"Alrighty then," the woman said. "Just let me get some coffee brewin' and I'll be right back with y'all." With that, she walked away from them, heading back towards the kitchen.

"Why are you using your magic?" Takuto asked, wrinkling his nose when he saw the dark indigo aura coming from Mao.

"Something is suspicious," Mao said. As soon as he started using his magic, he stopped. "They use magic…"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Maxwell asked.

"It was too simple to get in…" Mao said.

"You sayin' this is some kinda trap, boss?"

Maxwell didn't even get his answer as a small flurry of senbon needles flew past them, gracing Mao's hair and landing in the wall beside them.

In an instant, they were all on their feet, Maxwell standing on the table with his knight puppet in front of him, his hands connected to it by strings.

"What a shame," Mao mumbled. He actually wouldn't have minded a cup of coffee, seeing as it had been a good while since they had slept, but they would have to deal. His eyes darted around the shop until he saw three people-one including the woman, dressed in pale blue clothing that had a white cloud pattern on it.

"We have you now, Charon Cross," the woman said, her accent no longer present. With that, she called out, "Acupressure Magic: Senbon Rain!" throwing both of her arms forward. A gray magic seal appeared in front of her and a massive flurry of senbon needles flew towards them.

Mao flipped backwards, landing skillfully on the back of one of the booths, glaring at her.

Maxwell used his knight as a shield, the sound of metal on metal clashing resounding through the empty shop.

"Mud Body: Mud Warden!" Takuto cried as his torso turned to mud, a few drops of it rolling to the ground. Just before the needles hit him, two hands burst from his chest and caught them. The hands then aimed for the two people that were to either side of the woman, one of which was a middle aged-man with thinning, dark blue hair and a male who was probably around twenty, who looked like he may be their son.

The son dodged back and instantly both of his arms turned to giant lances. "Lancer Magic: Drill Spin!" he cried as he shot his arms out in front of him and then spun though the air, aiming for Mao.

The father dodged and his body burst into light and he requiped into simple leather armor and large claws that were worn like brass knuckles. He then charged Takuto.

Mao waited until the last possible moment to dodge and then flipped over the lancer, grabbing his head as he did so and flipping him to the ground in one swift movement.

The lancer scrambled to his feet and then jumped back, trying to put some distance between himself and Mao.

Mao moved swiftly and attempted to get behind the lancer, only to find himself having to duck under the lance-arm of the man.

"I don't know what I expected," the lancer said. "Master Cloudpsire said that you guys were a tough guild," he said.

Mao's eye twitched ever-so-slightly as he took note of the master's name. So… They had a hit on them from another guild? Had that ever happened before? He was almost certain that he had heard Onyx speaking of this happening every-so-often. Oh, well, they'd have to inform Onyx when they returned.

While he was thinking, Mao dodged the incoming stab that the lancer took at him and flipped over him, removing a dagger that was hidden by the belts on his legs and focusing his magic into it, dark indigo particles surrounding the blade. Mao landed on one hand and nicked the lancer's shoulder with the blade before flipping back to his feet and hiding the dagger again.

The lancer's arms turned back to normal and he gasped, grasping the small wound on his shoulder and panting. "Wh-what did you do?" he asked as he felt his magic draining and his skin burning.

"Assassin's secret," Mao responded nonchalantly.

Meanwhile, Maxwell was occupied with the woman. She had attempted again and again to send flurry of senbon needles his way, only to grimace when they were repeatedly blocked by his puppet. "I don't know whys ya keep tryin', lady," he said, floating the puppet out of the way so that the woman could see his face. "My knight ain't even gots a scratch on 'em," he added with a laugh.

"We have been given the mission to eliminate Charon Cross, and this is what we will do," the woman explained. With that, steel gray magic circles appeared on all four sides of him and needles that were thicker than senbons began to fly at him from all sides.

Maxwell instantly focused a surge of magic energy into his knight, causing the puppet to dance furiously around him, swinging his sword at blinding speed in order to block all of the needles. Only one or two managed to slip past his swift defense.

During this, Takuto jumped back and landed on the top of a table in order to avoid the older man. The hands jutting from his chest withdrew and his called out, "Mud Body: Spider Boxing!" causing two mud arms to jut out of each side of his ribcage. He then jumped into the air and attempted to land behind the man.

The man managed to dodge and swivel around, trying to slash at Takuto with his claws.

Takuto moved swiftly and grabbed the man's arm with two of his hands. He then used his other four hands to quickly pummel the man, his fists colliding with practically every part of the man's body in a blur.

Meanwhile, Mao stepped back when the lancer fell to his knees, gripping his shoulder and wincing. The boy couldn't handle his magic. It was a simple fact that not many people could handle it.

The man saw his son fall to the ground and miraculously, he jumped back and even though he was extremely bruised, he attempted to run over to his son. However, he stopped when a scream came from the woman, his wife.

Judging by the triumphant smirk that had been plastered on the woman's face during the attack, Maxwell assumed that she had wasted no time pulling her trump card. It was a sad, really. Someone who was probably a member of a mage's guild had went straight to their strongest spell to kill someone who had defense. When the spell ended, Maxwell pulled a few of the needles out of his skin and returned her triumphant smirk with his own devious grin.

The woman screamed when the knight puppet charged at her with his sword readied. She attempted to hop into the air, but failed.

When the man turned around, he saw the great claymore of the knight stab through his wife mid-air, bathing the ground around her in blood as she gasped for her final breaths.

He opened his mouth like he might scream, but after a moment, he shut it and turned to his son. He was about to say something, when Takuto's fist collided with the side of his face and sent him flying.

"Tch," Takuto started. "How dare you try to ignore the Almighty Takuto!" he snapped.

The man groaned, but he managed to call out, "Retreat, please, Resh!"

The lancer, Resh, lifted his head and for a moment there was fear in his eyes, but he nodded, struggling to his feet and heading for the back of the building where they had come from.

Mao chased after him, only to have the older man throw a small smoke ball from his pocket, landing it right in front of Mao and blinding him. The smoke stung his eyes to the point of tears and it caused him to close his eyes tightly. He could hear the coughing of his teammates and the man. It was only a few seconds later that the man's stopped, though, and there was a faint gurgling noise in its place.

The Charon Cross mages made their way to the door and retreated outside, slamming the door behind them so that more of the smoke wouldn't escape.

They all sunk down on the porch, even though they knew they needed to be getting out of town soon. They covered their mouths to try to silence their coughing.

A good ten minutes passed before they all three stood up, Mao first and Maxwell last. Villa was watching them with worried eyes, but Maxwell and Takuto grinned at her to reassure them that it would be okay.

Five minutes passed and they were already almost out of town, traveling quickly, but not quickly enough to draw the attention of townsfolk who were just waking up.

It was about thirty minutes after the incident that they managed to get outside of town, having seen no sign of Resh, who had evidently succeeded in his escape.

Maxwell was the first to break the silence. "Dammit…. Dat's nothin' less dan irritatin'," he growled, trying to adjust his clothing to distract his mind. He was bloodied up with a few rips in his clothes, and there were a few needles still in him here and there.

"How unfortunate," Mao commented. He wondered how Onyx would react when he found out that they let someone get away. Then again, it sounded like they had a hit on them from the entire guild. To get a fake mission…. Did that mean that the enemy also knew where their guild hall was? Or maybe it was someone that Onyx knew personally? There were many possibilities.

"How dare them… Make a fool of me, the Glorious Takuto!" Takuto grumbled.

* * *

><p>The trio arrived at the guild hall in the middle of the night a few days later. They all three walked into the pub first off, to find something to eat and they were surprised when they saw Onyx waiting beside the door, glowering down at them.<p>

"How's it goin', big boss?" Maxwell said with a grin.

"The mission didn't go well, did it?" Onyx asked.

Dark lines crept down Maxwell's forehead when he heard Onyx's words and he turned to his teammates to see what they were going to say. More dark lines appeared when he saw that Takuto and Mao seemed calm.

"They seemed to be waiting for us," Mao explained.

"Did they say anything about their guild?" Onyx asked.

While Takuto and Maxwell shook their heads, Mao spoke. "Their master's name is Cloudspire," he said.

"Hmm," Onyx stood straight and reached into his pocket, handing out three envelopes. "Here is your pay," he said, holding out the envelopes.

"Wait, what?" Takuto arched a brow. "Did you know we were gonna be stood up?" he asked, scowling at Onyx.

"I figured, yes," Onyx said flatly. "I'm quite disappointed that you didn't get more information than that, though," he added sternly.

"Well, excuse us for not knowing that we were walking right into a trap," Takuto snapped, clinching his fists. He was irritated, and that was an understatement. He could have had them walking right into their deaths, and he didn't even care. Still, he snatched the envelope and while mumbling something about needing a higher pay since it was a set-up, opened it. He stopped grumbling when he realized that the pay was higher than the note had said.

Maxwell grinned when he opened his own envelope to find this and Mao didn't really seem to care either way.

Maxwell turned back to the guild master and asked, "Why did ya go sendin' us on a mission dat y'knew was a setup?"

"You made it back, right?" Onyx asked. When Maxwell nodded, "You got information, right?"

"Not really, big boss," Maxwell said.

"We know the guild master's name, and that is more than enough information for me to go on," Onyx said.

"I am quite curious as to what you are planning," Mao stated, though his voice still didn't portray very much emotion. While Mao enjoyed watching most humans and trying to decipher their behaviors, Onyx was one of his favorites. He was nearly impossible to read. Even now, he couldn't tell whether the guild master was really thinking. Their cold, emotionless gazes almost matched each-others.

"There are many things that I am always planning," Onyx responded. "This is the roll of a guild master, yes?" And with that, he waved to them and disappeared in a blink.

There were many, many questions that Mao still had. How did they know of the Charon Cross guild mark? Or is that even how they recognized them? And did Master Onyx know Cloudspire? He wondered if Onyx would kill them if he knew that they had let someone get away. Time would tell all of these things, hopefully.

* * *

><p>On the beach on a small island off of the coast of Fiore, two females stared, glared at each other, their hands on their hips, their eyes cold and unforgiving.<p>

One of the females stood at 5'9'', though two of those inches were due to shoes, and was extremely curvy, with nearly flawless, tanned, yellow skin. Her large, almond-shaped eyes were a deep mahogany color, surrounded by black mascara and eyeliner and glittering red eye shadow. Arched, dark brows rested over them. Her thick, heart-shaped lips were painted with deep red lipstick and were the most notable feature of her narrow, round face.

Her clothing was anything other than modest. Her large bosom was barely covered by a sleeveless, mid-rift red top that had a wide v-neck and lots of black lace under it. Her hips were covered by a matching red, frilled skirt with lots of black lace, which fell just over her assets. Her feet were covered in dark red pumps that had two inches of heel to them. A golden chain from her neck and a red, heart-shaped pendant was nestled in her bosom. Her long nails were painted crimson and her deep, dark maroon hair was pulled into a heart-shaped up-do on the back of her head, with her wavy bangs clipped over her left brow with two golden pins, two wavy locks framing each side of her face. Her Charon Cross guild mark could be seen on top of her right hand, violet in color.

The other female stood at 5'7'' with a noticeably curvy figure and large bust similar to the female whom she was glaring at. Her muscles were ever-so-slightly more prominent than the other female's. Her skin was fair with an olive tone to it. Her eyes were deep, indigo blue and apart from a small point, they were mostly round with long, dark lashes. Her nose was slender and her lips fairly large. Her hair appeared to be a mix of violet and black in the sunlight, and the long back was pulled into a low pony-tail that fell to her waist. The front and sides of her hair were cut into choppy layers, with bangs that covered most of her forehead. There was a slight bit of waves to it. Her ears had a few hoops in each of them.

She was dressed much more modestly in a sleeveless, lavender, kimono styled top with a white cherry blossom print. It fell to the middle of her thighs, and skin-tight, gray shorts could barely be seen from under it. She had black, knee-high boots that were fairly simple, gray leather gloves, and a fluffy black scarf that was currently hanging loosely to reveal her scowl.

There was a solid black Exceed with pointed ears and bright amber eyes behind her. The Exceed wore a long-sleeved, pale blue kimono that resembled the woman's.

"You can't possibly think you're better than me… Hun…" the girl in red said. Her voice came out a purr as she bent over to show more of her cleavage to the woman.

"Oh, puh-lease," the other woman said with a roll of her eyes. Her voice was a bit more high-pitched, but still pleasant to the ears. "I'm not the one dressed up like I belong in a brothel."

"You're just jealous because you can't flaunt your goods like someone as… Stunning as me," the woman said, standing up straight again and flipping one of her wavy locks of hair with a prideful smirk on her face.

"What is there to be jealous of?" the other woman asked with a condescending tone to her voice.

"Ladies… Ladies!" A male's voice made them turn back towards the island as someone approached them.

Said male stood at 5'11'', with a slender, athletic build and cream colored skin. He had short, spiky, deep purple hair with toxic green spikes and one lock they hung in the middle of his forehead. His face was mostly squared shape, with a firm jaw, slender nose and high-cheek bones. His eyes were a deep, charcoal gray with just a hint of brown to them, framed by long lashes and prominent eye-brows that made him look a bit angry at everything. His right eyebrow had three silver hoops in it, and his ears had large, black gages in them.

He was dressed like a rocker, with a rugged, worn white t-shirt with a splash of black checkered pattern over the right rib-cage, under an unzipped, black leather jacket that had silver spikes jutting from the cuffs and shoulders. His lower body was covered in worn, blackish gray jeans that had rips in the knees, along with black and white high-top sneakers with checkered shoe-laces. A black, leather choker necklace with spikes was wrapped around his neck.

The male had two, fruity looking drinks in each hand. Two of them looked pale pink and really sweet, while one of them was a mix of oranges and yellows and the other was a mix of blues and greens.

"Ceres," the boy said, handing one of the pink drinks to the girl with the kimono-styled type.

"Noire," he said, handing the other sweet drink to the Exceed.

"And Zi Yu," he said, handing the yellow drink to the other female.

"Thanks, Zamir," both of the girls said, averting their gazes from them.

"No problem," the man, Zamir, said with a huge smirk before he took a long drink from his blue and green drink. "Yours don't got alcohol, Noire."

"Thank you," The Exceed, Noire responded, taking a small sip from the drink and then smiling.

"Annnywaaayyyy," Zamir started, clicking his tongue ring against his teeth and grinning. "Why fight, eh?" he asked, standing in between the two women. "Y'know, you're both pretty damn sexy…"

"And which one do you like more, hun?" Zi Yu purred out after taking a long drink from the glass and then pouring the rest into the sand, finding it to not suit her tastes. There were much, much better drinks out there.

Zamir flashed both of them another grin and said, "I dunno. Maybe you two could both become my groupies and I'll get back to ya on that, hm?"

Ceres rolled her eyes. "I don't know what I expected…" she mumbled under breath. She had worked with Zamir before. Unfortunately, she had worked with Zi Yu a lot before, too. They were all longer time members of the guild and for whatever awful reason, Onyx found that the three had a lot of synergy in their magic, and that they were all dependable assassins.

So… They got stuck with the long missions together because they were strong and dependable. The specific mission that they were on was actually one of moderate interest to them, as they were had traveled to a small island in order to acquire a large relic from the house of one of the many retired nobles of the islands.

They had just arrived at the island after a couple of weeks of traveling away from the guild and since it was the middle of the day and definitely not the time to be trying to steal things, they were supposed to be relaxing on the beach. However, after weeks together, Zi Yu and Ceres had had more than enough of each other, so before even finding a place to camp-since checking into a hotel would prove be too risky according to the mission slip-the two women had started arguing.

Zamir, who was more or less used to it, had instantly sought out the alcohol of the island and was currently wondering if he should go back for another glass. Drunken thievery was probably not the best thievery, though.

"I don't know why anyone would want to be a groupie to someone like you," Zi Yu said, taking in all of Zamir's appearance. It wasn't like he was a bad looking guy, by any means. In fact, he would probably be damn handsome if he would dress nice and do something about the color of his hair. "You know gorgeous women like me only want men who'll praise their every step…"

Zamir scoffed at her. There were so many things that he could say about her personality, none of which were good, but what did it matter when she had a body like she did? A woman couldn't have all of the good assets, after all.

"The only steps of yours that men'll be praising are the ones that lead you off of a cliff," Ceres mumbled under her breath, just loud enough for Zi Yu and Zamir to hear it.

Zamir couldn't help but to stifle a snicker at Ceres's remark. While Zi Yu flaunted what she had more, Ceres was more modest, as long as she didn't want something, but it wasn't like she wasn't extremely conceited at times, too.

Veins swelled on Zi Yu's forehead and she clenched her fists tightly. It looked as though she may say something, but after a moment, she calmed down and combed her fingers through the loose locks of hair around her face and then let out a small sigh. "A scowl is the most unattractive of faces for a beauty like me to have," she said, mostly to herself.

"I want to say that she just couldn't come up with a good comeback," Noire commented with a prideful smirk on her face.

Ceres only smirked at Noire over her shoulder.

* * *

><p>At nightfall, the three mages and Noire stood outside of the noble's house with smirks across their faces. While many members of their guild preferred to work within the shadows, they had no need to this time around.<p>

After exchanging glances, Zamir, Noire and Ceres hid behind the corner of the large house, while Zi Yu stood at the door, preparing herself.

"Y'know, I bet I could have done this better than her," Ceres huffed under her breath while they waited.

"I'm sure ya coulda," Zamir started, "but Zi's even got the magic for distractions," he added, watching as Zi Yu used her magic.

"Seductress Soul: Siren!" Zi Yu chanted in a hushed voice. With that, a crimson magic seal appeared under her and she was bathed in a crimson glow. When it vanished, she was left with her long, wavy hair flowing down her back, an odd wind lifting it up slightly. Her body was now clothed in nothing other than a simple, glowing white dress that looked like it could fall from her shoulders at any moment. Her body glowed white in the night.

After that, she posed herself and rang the doorbell, her eyes almost predatory when a male butler answered the door.

Instantly, his eyes widened under his graying lavender eyebrows, revealing their pale blue irises even in the night. "Welcome to the Carobelle residents…" he spoke in a low, shaky voice. "Erm… M-may I exist you?"

"You will let me into this house," Zi Yu said in an oddly echoing voice. "And you will not see my comrades as they follow us."

The man let out a small gasp before his eyes dulled. "Yes, m'lady," he said, stepping aside and letting her in.

Zamir, Ceres and Noire quickly followed.

"What was the point of hiding?" Noire asked as they walked into the manor.

"In case someone who wasn't into women answered the door," Zamir explained. "Zi's Siren Soul won't work on those who don't have any attraction to women, usually."

"Such a pathetic magic," Ceres commented in a condescending fashion.

By the time Zamir and Ceres made it down the hall, Ceres had another male butler against the wall, devouring him with her eyes.

"You will tell me where the master's treasure is kept," she demanded.

When the butler mumbled out the directions, she turned towards her teammates with a triumphant smirk. "I wonder how many men I'll make BOW to my beauty tonight…."

With the emphasis on the word "Bow" the man fell to his knees and pressed his forehead to the floor.

Zi Yu giggled under her breath and continued walking, leading the way to the treasure room, which was a fairly small room in the manor, with dark green walls that were barely visible due to all the various souvenirs and trophies that hung from the walls. There were tables lining all of the walls with many expensive looking relics.

Before they could stop her, Ceres was already making her way around the room and taking anything that had a lot of gems in it, especially things that contained sapphires or amethysts, since those were appealing colors.

"So many pretty gems," Noire commented, using Aera to fly up and sit on Ceres's head.

"And they're all mine…" Ceres purred under her breath.

While Zi Yu stared at herself in a mirror, Zamir read the mission over again. He then approached the middle of the room where he grabbed a small statue off of the table, examining it. It appeared to be a golden statue of someone dancing, with one leg raised and their body leaning back, their arms elegantly outstretched. "Who the hell would want something like this?" he asked.

Zi Yu stopped staring at herself after blowing a kiss into the mirror and then strutted over. "You think that they'd at least have the decency to give her a face, dress and hair. There's no beauty, otherwise."

"It looks gaudy," Ceres commented as she held a hand full of gems in her hand, turning them over and admiring them, only sparing the statue a few glances.

"Welp, let's head out, ladies," he said, flashing each of them a flirtatious grin, getting nothing other than glares in response.

As they headed out of the room, they all swiped a few more things, Ceres stuffing them into a gray pack that she had at her side, specifically for the mission, Zi Yu hiding them within her bosom, and Zamir tucking them into his jacket and pockets.

* * *

><p>"Such a bland mission," Ceres commented as she kicked back on the small bunk-bed of the four bed cabin that they shared on the ferry back to the mainland. She had her knees curled to her chest and her eyes reflected her boredom.<p>

"Hmmm…" Zi Yu hummed in a sort of agreement. She was sitting under the only light in the room, her legs tucked under her as she used a compact mirror to reapply her eyeliner for the umpteenth time that day.

They had completed their mission and been paid. The client thanked them for not killing anyone and explained that the statue had been auctioned off and he really admired it, but hadn't been able to attend the auction. A petty reason to recruit the guild that was many miles away from them, of course. They had questioned if there were other thieves closer to him and the client had responded that he had heard of the ferrymen of the damned and wanted them to do it, to be certain that the mission would be complete.

"We could make it a lot funner," Zamir said with a grin, winking at both of the women when they looked up at him. He was sitting on the edge of the bottom bunk across from Ceres with a toxic green, electric guitar with purple and black skull and checkered stickers randomly placed on it. He had strummed the guitar a few times, but was really just working on tuning it more so than actually playing.

"You wish you could have all of this, dear," Zi Yu purred out. She then continued to redo her makeup.

"No one is ever gonna love someone as blunt as you," Noire explained after seeing her companion roll her eyes and continue fixing up her nails.

"Girls love an honest guy, though," Zamir argued. "And hey, I'm honest. I wanna-"

"Just hush, Zamir," Ceres interrupted him. She then turned to Zi Yu. "How many layers of makeup do you have on?" she asked. Ceres, while wearing the occasional dab of makeup, did not obsess over such appearance enhancers.

"Enough to make my beauty dwarf yours, hun," Zi Yu responded, paying no mind to Ceres.

"You really aren't too good at coming up with comebacks, are you?" Noire asked.

"Hmph," Zi Yu only huffed and continued to apply her makeup.

Silence fell between them until there was a crashing heard over them, on the deck of the ship. This was soon followed by the screaming of passengers that were on-board.

"Sounds like something fun is happenin'," Zamir said, standing and strapping his guitar over his back.

Ceres stood and stretched. "Maybe…"

Zi Yu huffed again and stood. "I swear, if someone is trying to sink this ship, I will kill them," she growled. The reason for her anger wasn't really the threat of the ship, but the fact that she only had eyeliner on one eye, and the ship was shaking too much to apply it to the other eye. So, she resulted in going into her Siren Soul once more, where her appearance changed.

They headed for the deck, getting stopped by a mother and a child as they did so.

"Are you three mages?" she asked, her eyes on the guild mark on Zi Yu's hand and the way she was glowing.

"If the price is right," Zamir said, folding his arms over his chest.

"Please… We don't have much money," the young mother said, picking her tiny daughter up and holding her close. "There is someone trying to high-jack the ship… You need to stop them… If you can use magic."

"Mommy, I'm scared!" the daughter, who had short brown hair with one pigtail on the right side, sniffled.

"Ugh, good karma," Ceres huffed, walking past the woman. She didn't want to seem like they were really being helpful, but at the same time, she didn't want to end up swimming, either.

Zamir, Zi Yu and Noire all followed Ceres close behind. On their travels to the deck, they began having to push their ways through crowds of people, some of which seemed to be heading to their room to seek refuge for whatever dumb reason and some of which were rushing for the lifeboats.

"Maybe we should just let this ship sink so that all of the dumbasses who are going to their rooms will perish instead of reproducing," Zamir yelled back to his comrades.

"I am NOT getting on a lifeboat with a bunch of ugly old people," Zi Yu responded with a huff.

When they made it on deck, they found that there was water everywhere and as people tried to rush to the lifeboats, they were blasted back by water magic that seemed to come from a gang of ten people in the middle of the deck, who were laughing and declaring that the ship belonged to them.

"Water mages on a boat," Zamir commented. "How original." With that, he pulled his guitar around and placed his hands on it. He then began to play a fast paced rock song on it. With every strum, graffiti like music notes burst from the weapon and shot towards the ten water mages, blasting them back.

Ceres was the next one to move to action, Noire hanging onto her back with her Aera activated in case she did get knocked off or something. Her body began to glow with a strange black and orange aura before she called out, "Sun God's Muse!" and vanished.

Before the water mages could comprehend what was happening, they were surrounded by clones of Ceres, all of which had the same strange aura and stood in place. Within a blink, the real Ceres was behind them and crying out "Sun God's Solar Flare!" as she punched one of them to the ground and then drop-kicked two of them, their bodies bursting in orange-black flames.

Zi Yu let out a sigh as her eyes landed on two of the male water mages. "Come to me…. My loves…" she said, tucking one of her arms under her bosom to make her massive cleavage even more prominent.

The men's eyes turned to hearts and they stumbled as they ran over to her, pushing each other to try to get to her first.

"She's mine!" One of them snapped to his "comrade."

"No way!" the other snapped back. "Go to hell!"

"Now… Let your own element..." she blew a kiss, which actually came out a glowing blue pair of lips when she blew. "…Destroy you…" she finished just as the lips split into two pairs and each landed on the mouths of the mages once they were within three feet of her.

Upon contact, the lips burst into spheres of water that enclosed the heads of both of the men, drowning them until they passed out.

Blue magic spheres appeared on their hands as they tried unsuccessfully to manipulate the water around them.

She released them before they actually died, just because she was exposed and didn't want to get a mark over her head for killing people, even if it was in self-defense.

Zamir played a few more chords on his guitar, more graffiti notes flooding the deck, and the rest of the water mages were defeated, lying in a pile of bruises and burns.

Zi Yu pushed the two that she had defeated onto the pile and then smiled when the deck stopped shaking.

"What a buncha losers," Zamir commented. "I barely even got to finish a chorus," he added, twisting his guitar back onto his back.

"Didn't even break a sweat," Ceres commented as her clones vanished and she readjusted her gloves.

"It's only natural for assa-mages as awesome as us," Noire said, being careful not to use the word "assassin" on a crowded ship.

And then they were flocked by the people that were still on deck, all of which grabbed at them and thanked them and tried to hug them.

"Ceres, dear, I do hope you can-" Zi Yu started. While she loved the attention, a lot of people were asking them their names and what guild they came from, neither being questions that needed to be answered.

"I'm on it," Ceres interrupted. And with that, her body burst into an oddly blinding black-orange light and while the people were dazed, the group retreated back to their room.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note<strong>__: Hiya, guys~ Hope you enjoyed the chapter. :3 I really loved writing it and I'm happy to announce that introductions are now over! Anyway, some questions for you guys!_

_**-Who is/are your favorite(s) so far?**_

_**-Are there any teams that you would like to see? They can consist of 2-3 characters and I can make it happen in the next arc?**_

_**-What about romantic pairings? Are there any of those that you would like to see? **_

_**-Is there anything else like spars or just general interactions that you would like to see?**_

_Feel free to PM me the answers to the questions if you don't want to leave them in reviews, yo. :3 _

_To help with the questions above, here is a cast of characters and what's been revealed on their magic:_

_-Onyx –Golems_

_-Ataru - Sound_

_-Jeb – Gun_

_-Eshika - Vector_

_-Zoe – Chain-make_

_-Erin – Explosives and perception_

_-Eustace - Spheres_

_-Sakari – Requip_

_-Dia - Valkyrie_

_-Carel - Weapons_

_-Mao – Something that will be more detailed later, as he doesn't use his magic as much._

_-Maxwell - Puppets_

_-Takuto – Mud-body_

_-Ceres – Sun God Slayer_

_-Zamir - Music_

_-Zi Yu – Seductress Soul_

_-Jacob - Electric_

_-Seth – None, for now._

_-Quentin – Gun_

_**Credits:**_

_-Mao – reven228_

_-Maxwell – DarkHyena_

_-Takuto and Villa – Condor-K_

_-Ceres and Noire – Nicky Azure_

_-Zi Yu – Grumpy and Raiyane_

_-Zamir – Grumpy_

_**Review Responses:**_

_**As always, lots of love from me and Grumpy for reviews! We appreciate it so, so, so much. :3 Lots of love! :3**_

_-XxFairytail DreamerxX – Yeah. That's how I imagine most kids. :3 I'm really happy you enjoyed the chapter. c:_

_-Paperman0 – I'm really, really happy you feel that way. I will try my best to make them work together more, if that's what you want. :3 And I'm happy I did good with Carel. Master Onyx considers himself a master, but keep in mind that assassin guilds do run a bit differently than other guilds… At least I would think so. I'm really happy you liked the chapter. :3_

_-Qyresh – I'm really, really happy you liked it. Thank you. ^/^ I'm really happy that I portrayed Dia well as well. :3 And I'm really happy that you have interest in the magics of some of the characters. I plan on elaborating much more on them later with some battles and such that are more detailed. As well as some sparring and things of that nature._

_-Baseball 22 – I'm really happy you like those two as a team. :3 I thought they would make good friends. And as far as been revealed, Onyx has Golem magic. He'll be expanded upon later. :3_

_-DarkHyena – I'm really, really happy you enjoyed the chapter! I hope I did okay with Maxwell. :3_

_-Ogrespi – I'm really happy that you like Dia, Sakari and Carel .They're really fun to write. And I'm happy I did Quentin right. I do plan on having them all work together eventually. :3_

_-Deathslayer Night – Sorry. X_X_

_-Origm2012 – I'm really happy you like both of them. :3 Onyx knows all… O.O Maybe. Probably not. They were just predictable. :P I'm really happy you liked the chapter. :3_

_-reven228 – I'm really happy you enjoy my updates. :3 And I'm really happy you enjoyed the introductions, though I must say that I am glad to be done with them, haha. :3 Now to move into real things. Glad you enjoyed the chapter~ :3_


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